FORTY  YEARS 


ANNIVERSARY 

OF  THE 

INSTALLATION 

OF 

REV.  ALEXANDER  McKENZIE,  D.D. 


1 867  —  1907 


Owing  to  lack  of  funds  the  Committee  are  able  to 
furnish  but  one  copy  FREE  to  each  family.  Extra 
zopies  can  be  obtained  of  the  Clerk  of  the  Church  at 
p5  cents  each.    Please  send  money  "faith  the  order. 
George  S.  Chase, 

19  Lancaster  Street, 

Cambridge,  Mass. 


i 


(^oLrr^Y-iJcte^  .  Masz.       First  cl\vr<\\ 
g  ' 

SERMONS  AND  EXERCISES 


IN  RECOGNITION  OF  THE  ^  ^  ■''*£/ 

/\T  ' — ■«..»»  ■ 

FORTY  YEARS'  SERVICE  V%MAI_f^°£ 

OF 

0/ 


REV.  ALEXANDER  McKENZIE,  D.D. 

as  pastor  of 

The  First  Church  in  Cambridge,  1636 

AND 

The  Shepard  Congregational  Society,  1829 


JANUARY  20-27,  1907 


<ST&e  JFort  gill  tyxcss 

SAMUEL  USHER 
176  TO  184  HIGH  STREET 
BOSTON,  MASS. 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2014 


https://archive.org/details/sermonsexercisesOOcong 


CONTENTS. 


Page. 


The  First  Sermon,  by  Dr.  McKenzie   5 

Sunday  School  Exercises   17 

Reception   19 

Presentation  of  Portrait,  by  the  Hon.  Arthur  P.  Stone  ...  21 

Acceptance  of  Portrait,  by  Deacon  Francis  Flint   23 

Presentation  of  Album,  by  Judge  Jabez  Fox   24 

Absent  and  Past  Members,  by  Mr.  George  S.  Chase    ...  25 

Presentation  of  Purse,  by  Deacon  George  S.  Saunders  .  .  29 

Response  of  Dr.  McKenzie   30 

Public  Meeting   33 

Order  of  Service    34 

Prayer  of  Rev.  Charles  E.  Beals   36 

Opening  Remarks  of  the  Chairman,  Frank  Gaylord  Cook, 

Esq   38 

Address  of  the  Hon.  James  M.  W.  Hall   40 

Address  of  Major-Gen.  William  A.  Bancroft   47 

Address  of  the  Rev.  Reuen  Thomas,  D.D   50 

Address  of  the  Rev.  Samuel  M.  Crothers,  D.D   54 

Address  of  the  Hon.  Walter  C.  Wardwell   57 

Address  of  President  Charles  William  Eliot   59 

Address  of  the  Rev.  George  A.  Gordon,  D.D   62 

Response  of  the  Rev.  Alexander  McKenzie,  D.D   64 

The  Second  Sermon,  by  Dr.  McKenzie   68 

Letters   84 

Committees   103 


ANNIVERSARY  PORTRAIT 

BY 

F    II  TOMPKINB 


ANNIVERSARY  SERMONS. 


THE  FIRST  SERMON. 

I  find  it  necessary  to  divide  my  addresses  at  this  anniver- 
sary, and  I  shall  to-day  give  some  account  of  the  history  and 
organization  of  the  church,  and  its  method  of  work ;  and  next 
Sunday  shall  present  the  internal  order  and  spirit  and  purpose 
of  the  church.  Together,  these  discourses  will  describe  the 
outer  and  inner  life  in  their  general  principles.  I  take  for 
my  text  this  morning  these  words: 

I  shall  be  ready  always  to  put  you  in  remembrance  of  these  things, 
though  ye  know  them,  and  are  established  in  the  truth  which  is  with 
you.  —  2  Peter  1 : 12. 

If  I  am  to  give  further  account  of  the  history  of  this  church 
and  its  life,  I  shall  resume  the  narrative  at  the  point  where  it 
paused  five  and  thirty  years  ago.  We  were  then  about  to 
enter  this  house,  and  the  last  word  was  the  ancient  prayer, 
"  The  Lord  our  God  be  with  us,  as  he  was  with  our  fathers." 
Even  to-day  our  mind  reaches  beyond  our  own  time  to  that 
beginning,  and  we  remember  the  fathers.  It  is  the  work  of 
their  hands  which,  augmented,  is  established  upon  us.  They 
are  entitled  to  our  reverent  thought.  Their  place  has  been 
well  asserted  in  the  fine  sentence  of  our  neighbor,  Mr.  Lowell : 
"  That  happy  breed  of  men  who,  both  in  church  and  state,  led 
our  first  emigration  were  children  of  the  most  splendid  in- 
tellectual epoch  that  England  has  ever  known." 

I  delight  to  praise  these  men,  but  I  do  it  now  especially  for 
the  sake  of  tracing  our  lineage,  while  I  claim  that  this  genera- 
tion is  worthy  of  all  which  have  preceded  it.  They  were  indeed 
men  of  mark,  our  founders  and  fathers.  If  I  may  repeat  my 
own  words,  they  made  a  community  which  endowed  a  coUege 
with  a  liberality  which  has  not  been  surpassed;  which  set  up 

5 


6 


Fortieth  Anniversary. 


schools  and  placed  wise  men  over  them;  which  required  that 
children  should  be  trained  in  some  useful  employment ;  which 
preserved  its  own  morality  and  exalted  the  Christian  virtues; 
which  dealt  with  criminals  more  humanely  than  old  England, 
and  loved  freedom  so  well  that,  with  slavery  thrust  upon  it, 
there  has  not  been  a  slave  born  in  Massachusetts  since  this 
church  was  five  years  old;  which  cherished  kindness  and 
equity  towards  Indians  and  sought  their  well-being;  which 
kept  its  place  and  name  till  colonies  could  become  a  nation, 
and  wrote  the  first  lines  in  our  national  annals.  They  had 
limitations  and  infirmities,  but  they  were  strong  men,  bent 
upon  the  right,  instructed  in  good  learning,  and  mindful  of 
posterity  —  which  posterity  we  are. 

The  foremost  purpose  of  our  fathers  was  to  establish  here  a 
church  after  the  New  Testament  pattern,  in  which  their 
loyalty  to  truth  and  liberty  would  be  unrestrained.  They 
held  the  old  creeds,  and  they  joined  in  the  covenant  which 
embodied  the  spirit  of  the  creeds,  the  covenant  which  has  been 
preserved  and  is  constantly  renewed  among  us : 

"  We  who  are  now  brought  together  and  united  into  one 
church,  under  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  our  Head,  in  such  sort 
as  becometh  all  those  whom  he  hath  redeemed  and  sanctified 
to  himself,  do  here  solemnly  and  religiously,  as  in  his  most 
holy  presence,  promise  and  bind  ourselves  to  walk  in  all  our 
ways  according  to  the  rule  of  the  gospel,  and  in  all  sincere  con- 
formity to  his  holy  ordinances,  and  in  mutual  love  and 
respect  each  to  other,  so  near  as  God  shall  give  us  grace." 

We  are  able  to  stand  in  this  compact  in  the  protection  of  the 
trust  with  which  they  sealed  their  vows,  "  so  near  as  God  shall 
give  us  grace."  They  made  their  personal  confession  of  faith 
and  experience,  and  they,  and  those  who  followed  them, 
framed  from  time  to  time  such  systems  of  administration  as 
were  requisite  and  profitable.  No  form  of  words  which  men 
devised  was  binding  save  so  far  as  it  had  the  warrant  of  holy 
Scripture.    That  principle  remains  unchanged,  and  in  it  are 


First  Sermon. 


7 


our  wisdom  and  strength.  Yet  we  are  in  accord  with  the 
essential  teaching  of  the  church  from  its  earliest  time.  We 
sing  the  old  anthems  and  the  Christian  hymns,  and  we  hold  to 
the  apostolic  succession.  We  are  the  children  of  the  fathers. 
This  line  of  prophets  and  ministers  started  with  a  wise  and 
determined  leader,  and  it  was  continued  in  the  men  whose 
names  are  written  with  his  on  the  tablet  before  you  and 
beside  this  pulpit.  They  are  more  than  names  or  they  had 
not  been  cut  in  stone.  This 'course  of  years  was  worthy  of  the 
men,  and  we  owe  it  to  them  and  to  ourselves  to  be  versed  in 
their  history.  The  time  came  for  another  forward  movement 
and  the  men  appointed  to  it  were  here. 

It  was  a  great  advance  when  the  church,  true  to  itself, 
came  up  to  this,  its  sixth  house  of  worship,  its  new  meeting- 
house. It  had  been  erected  in  a  worthy  ambition  and 
creditable  faith.  It  was  built  for  the  future,  with  ample  room 
for  an  increase  of  numbers  and  an  extension  of  influence.  It 
was  built  with  the  boldness  of  the  prophetic  spirit,  and  the 
steadiness  of  men  with  rational  earnestness  I  set  this  in 
with  the  notable  events  of  our  centuries.  I  am  sure  that  the 
hand  of  the  Lord  was  in  it:  the  God  of  the  fathers.  There 
seems  now,  as  we  look  back,  to  have  been  almost  an  excess 
of  confidence,  and  that  prudence  was  held  in  abeyance.  Time 
has  proved  that  the  design  was  discreet. 

The  right  man  was  chief  in  the  enterprise,  a  man  with  the 
hereditary  interest  in  the  church,  and  patriotic  reliance  even 
upon  the  ground  which  had  been  secured  for  its  house,  with  a 
remarkable  blending  of  courage  and  caution,  preeminently  the 
man  for  the  work.  He  did  not  long  enjoy  the  result  of  his 
efforts,  but  I  trust  that  his  name  will  at  some  time  be  set  in 
window  or  wall  in  the  house  which  owes  so  much  to  him. 
There  were  great  men  in  the  church  and  parish  when  this 
pastorate  began.  The  law  was  represented  by  Parker  and 
Washburn;  science  by  Gray  and  Horsford,  and  merchants  by 
Whitman  and  Melledge;  and  there  were  men  of  all  the  profes- 


8 


Fortieth  Anniversary. 


sions.  The  past  had  none  of  higher  rank,  and  recent  years 
have  not  lessened  their  fame.  Each  of  the  years  has  had  its 
own  men  who  were  worthy  of  their  places.  The  new  house 
brought  new  duties,  but  the  men  were  equal  to  them.  It  is 
no  small  tribute  to  the  people  at  large,  and  to  those  who 
have  been  prominent  in  the  affairs  of  the  parish,  that  with- 
out great  wealth  this  house  was  built  and  paid  for  and  has 
been  sustained  and  enlarged,  and  stands  to-day  in  its  grand- 
eur, a  fitting  home  for  generations  to  come.  It  is  an  instance 
of  excellent  financial  management,  to  which  I  am  glad  to  give 
this  grateful  recognition.  Nothing  is  lacking  to  the  house 
but  the  completion  of  its  windows,  and  I  have  in  waiting 
the  names  of  those  whose  memory  should  be  enshrined  in 
these  forms  of  beauty,  with  those  which  already  render  it 
homelike  and  attractive. 

These  have  been  years  of  activity,  in  which  many  have 
been  engaged.  They  are  too  many  to  be  named  and  too  well 
known  to  need  to  be  named.  The  officers  of  the  church,  from 
the  two  deacons  whom  I  found,  through  the  line  of  good  men 
who  have  honored  the  office  which  gave  them  honor  and  con- 
fidence, have  devised  and  maintained  good  works,  which  have 
conserved  and  promoted  the  well-being  of  the  church.  Quietly 
and  patiently  they  have  borne  their  burden  and  given  their 
thought,  in  the  freshness  of  young  manhood  and  in  the  revered 
dignity  of  accumulated  wisdom.  No  man  has  sought  his  own. 
In  the  long  catalogue  of  names  Diotrephes  does  not  occur,  nor 
is  there  one  who  has  sought  preeminence  among  us.  That 
this  has  tended  to  harmony  is  obvious.  It  accounts  in  some 
measure  for  the  continuance  of  the  pastorate,  which  in  its  turn 
may  have  given  by  its  stability  some  constancy  to  counsel  and 
purpose. 

While  I  speak  of  the  church  I  do  not  for  a  moment  forget  the 
men  who  entirely  of  their  own  desire  have  not  been  enrolled 
as  communicants,  but  who  have  cherished  an  interest  in  the 
affairs  of  the  society  with  which  the  church  is  allied,  and  have 


First  Sermon. 


9 


rendered  to  the  church  constant  and  invaluable  service  in 
many  ways.  We  are  strong  in  men  of  this  standing,  with 
whom  we  would  most  gladly  share  our  closest  fellowship.  It 
has  been  a  common  usefulness  in  which  we  have  prospered, 
with  one  accord  and  one  intent.  Through  all  our  association 
we  have  been  well  agreed.  I  think  that  this  long  agreement  in 
usefulness  is  worth  noting  in  connection  with  the  independence 
of  thought  which  has  been  manifested  and  the  liberty  of 
expression  which  has  never  been  restrained.  It  has  not  been 
the  agreement  of  men  of  one  mind,  content  to  let  things  run 
as  they  would,  but  an  agreement  among  men  of  decision  and 
force,  who  would  have  things  run  as  they  ought. 

I  wish  to  add  to  this  testimony  to  the  fidelity  of  the  officers 
of  the  church  and  parish  this  special  instance  of  consideration, 
that  while  they  have  met  their  own  duties  willingly,  they  have 
done  all  they  could  to  make  my  own  lighter.  I  have  many 
times  remarked  with  appreciation  their  evident  purpose  to  lay 
upon  the  minister  no  burden  which  they  could  themselves 
carry,  and  to  ask  of  him  no  work  which  they  could  perform. 
The  permanence  of  membership  in  the  board  of  deacons  is 
characteristic.  We  have  often  spoken  of  the  continuity  in 
the  pastorate,  where  in  two  hundred  and  seventy  years  there 
have  been  but  eleven  pastors,  and  but  one  of  these  has  left  this 
church  for  another.  There  has  been  a  similar  habit  among  the 
deacons.  Changes  have  been  few,  and  those  who  have  come 
into  the  places  of  those  who  retired  have  been  of  like  opinion 
and  spirit.  The  sacred  office  has  thus  been  made  the  more 
honorable  and  delightful. 

I  wish  to  mark  another  instance  of  constancy  which  has 
been  of  much  service.  The  value  of  a  meeting-house  depends 
largely  upon  him  in  whose  care  it  is.  The  comfort  of  a 
minister,  and  with  this  his  efficiency,  depend  in  a  good  degree 
upon  the  sacristan,  the  man  in  whose  hands  the  house  is  left, 
day  and  night  and  all  days,  with  its  multiplied  and  often  con- 
flicting demands,  and  its  requirement  of  serious  and  unfailing 


10 


Fortieth  Anniversary. 


sagacity  and  fidelity.  I  should  wrong  my  own  thought  if  I 
did  not  make  special  mention  of  the  two  men  who,  under  one 
name  and  in  one  spirit,  have  administered  the  office.  They  are 
honored  in  the  community  which  they  served  and  serve  in 
sacred  ministrations.  When  "  that  good  gray  head  that  all 
men  knew  "  was  lost  to  our  sight,  we  set  his  name  in  bronze 
above  his  chair,  witnessing  to  his  love  for  the  habitation  of 
God's  house,  and  the  place  where  His  honor  dwelleth.  The 
service  continues,  and  I  want  to  express  my  indebtedness  to 
the  pains  and  thoughtfulness  and  indulgence  which  have  done 
so  much  to  provide  the  minister's  life  with  all  possible  ease  and 
content,  and  I  desire  to  make  known  my  gratitude  to  my 
friend,  the  honored  sexton  of  this  church. 

We  are,  as  we  should  be,  a  busy  church.  Membership  means 
that.  Whatever  we  may  receive,  we  are  set  together  not  to  be 
ministered  unto,  but  to  minister.  Each  life  has  its  place 
apart.  Many  are  the  men  who  are  thus  leagued,  and  few  are 
the  women  who  have  no  share  in  these  activities.  The  call  and 
the  opportunity  are  liberahy  regarded.  We  are  completely 
organized,  in  all  ages  and  conditions,  with  much  regard  for 
special  interests  and  preferences,  and  a  general  regard  for  the 
widest  usefulness.  The  men  have  consolidated  their  interest 
and  their  strength,  and  we  feel  the  new  vigor  which  their 
wisdom  and  energy  supply.  In  our  historical  society  we 
stand  in  friendship  with  all  who  have  been  here.  Around  the 
the  story  written  by  Thomas  Shepard  for  his  sons  already  a 
valuable  collection  of  historical  books  and  manuscripts  is 
among  our  possessions.  Activity  has  found  ways  of  imme- 
diate and  daily  usefulness.  The  church  which,  in  good  degree, 
owes  its  beginning  to  a  woman's  courage,  has  embodied  the 
faith  and  sympathy  of  women  for  widespread  beneficence. 

Maturity  has  its  place,  transforming  its  means  into  benefits; 
the  sons  and  daughters  have  their  visions  to  be  interpreted; 
the  boys  learn  to  be  masters  of  their  hands,  and  the  girls  w  ear 
Margaret  Shepard's  name,  while  the  cradle  rocks  under  our 


First  Sermon. 


1 1 


roof.  This  means  care  and  toil  for  the  few,  but  these  are 
cheerfully  rendered  and  openly  rewarded.  The  number  of 
untitled  workers,  unpaid  save  in  our  gratitude  and  the  con- 
sciousness of  the  value  of  their  service,  easily  wins  and  holds 
our  admiration.  Very  high  among  our  agencies  must  stand 
our  Sunday  school,  one  of  the  oldest  and  one  of  the  best, 
standing  in  modern  methods,  fashioning  its  thought  and  teach- 
ing in  the  light  of  the  day,  seeking  to  advance  the  knowledge 
of  the  Bible,  and  to  lead  all  who  consent  into  an  intelligent 
Christian  life. 

These  years  have  been  marked  among  the  churches  by  the 
earliest  rising  of  the  young  life,  foretold  at  Pentecost.  It  was 
certain  that  here,  where  the  church  doors  stand  open  before  the 
colleges,  the  young  life  would  assert  itself  and  reach  out  into 
the  world.  At  first  all  was  informal.  Then  concentration 
came.  The  Young  People's  Alliance  has  been  vigorous  in  its 
purpose  and  its  influence  extended.  While  the  purpose  was  ac- 
tive long  before  it  took  on  this  form,  it  has  found  advantage  in 
definite  organization,  but  has  preserved  its  independence  in 
action  and  its  freedom  in  responsibility,  and  has  not  consented 
to  formal  affiliation  with  larger  and  excellent  movements.  It 
is  in  friendly  connection  with  them,  but  it  chooses  its  own 
promises  and  purposes.  Few  societies  have  been  a  greater 
power  for  good,  or  have  stood  in  pleasanter  relations  with  the 
church.  It  was  the  Alliance  which  carried  the  name  and 
influence  of  the  church  to  the  river  side,  and  there  began  the 
beneficent  work  in  which  we  rejoice.  It  is  impossible  in  this 
hour  to  tell  the  full  story  of  our  plainest  efforts.  Enough  that 
we  acknowledge  the  vitality  which  has  wisely  confessed  its 
duty  and  accepted  its  opportunity. 

This  hurried  narrative  cannot  pass  without  mention  of  the 
service  of  song  which  is  of  so  large  moment  in  our  worship. 
There  have  been  many  changes,  but  the  voice  of  praise  has 
never  ceased  to  be  heard,  and  voice  and  organ  have  raised  our 
minds  on  high.    In  these  years  many  have  come  and  many 


12 


Fortieth  Anniversary. 


have  gone.  It  is  the  fashion  of  the  times.  But  it  is  now  for  a 
long  time  that  one  man  has  conducted  this  ministry  of  sacred 
harmony,  bringing  ability  and  fidelity  to  his  high  mission; 
one  who  has  been  a  pleasant  associate  in  our  common  interests, 
wise  but  kindly,  firm  but  generous,  knowing  the  dignity  and 
beauty  of  his  calling,  and  content  within  its  bounds. 

It  is  a  fitting  close  to  this  part  of  my  narrative  that  I  make 
thankful  acknowledgment  of  the  priceless  help  which  has  been 
given  in  the  two  men  who  have  shared  my  work.  After  many 
years  it  again  came  to  pass  that  the  care  of  the  enlarged  and 
enlarging  parish  was  beyond  any  man's  time  and  strength,  and 
you  placed  at  my  side  one  who  should  be  my  companion  and 
helper;  a  man  whom  we  knew  and  who  knew  us;  of  long 
experience,  of  real  wisdom,  of  entire  simplicity  and  sincerity; 
who  was  a  counselor  and  a  friend;  whose  presence  brought 
gladness,  a  beatitude  in  the  sanctuary  and  in  your  homes,  and 
in  a  marked  degree  where,  in  retirement,  pious  and  lonely 
souls  watched  for  his  coming,  and  rested  in  his  sympathy  and 
prayer.  When  at  last,  after  more  than  fifteen  years  of  service, 
he  ceased  from  his  walks  among  us,  from  this  house  which  he 
loved  he  was  carried  to  his  rest.  But  his  memory  abides,  and 
every  thought  of  him  is  for  our  good.  We  look  upon  his  calm, 
spiritual,  hallowed  face  to  be  glad  that  he  has  lived. 

I  may  not  say  all  that  I  would,  beyond  this:  from  a 
pleasant  village  above  Lake  Lucerne,  where  the  Rigi  and 
Pilatus  look  down  on  the  quiet  waters,  my  mind  and  heart  at 
leisure  were  with  you  who  were  here  and  with  our  life  to- 
gether. It  was  a  place  for  quiet  reflection  and  peaceful 
expectation.  I  sent  across  the  sea  a  pastoral  letter  to  my 
friends,  the  officers  of  the  church,  to  pledge  my  devotion,  and 
to  tell  them  what  they  knew,  that  there  was  still,  and  more 
than  ever,  the  need  of  a  man  to  stand  with  this  ministry  and 
within  it.  That  I  wrote  and  little  more.  I  made  no  request, 
and  none  was  needed.  The  word  fell  into  wise  and  willing 
minds,  and  was  at  once  regarded.    Soon  the  man  was  seen, 


First  Sermon. 


13 


chosen,  called  by  the  church,  through  its  own  action,  although 
of  course  with  my  concurrence.  Then  the  man  who  now  leads 
our  worship  on  Sunday  morning  was  in  his  appointed  place; 
in  the  fullness  of  his  strength,  the  integrity  of  his  purpose,  the 
abundance  of  skill  and  learning  which  diligent  years  have 
given  him,  and  who  also  has  had  the  advantage  of  a  business 
training.  Already  his  service  is  measured  by  years.  We  think 
and  work  together,  day  by  day,  in  mutual  confidence,  in  actual 
independence,  with  an  increasing  friendship,  and  an  expand- 
ing influence.  The  relation  is  a  comfort  and  pleasure  to  me. 
I  have  reason  to  believe  that  it  is  a  pleasure  and  comfort  to 
him  also. 

Thus  I  have  summed  up  too  briefly  the  elements  of  our  life 
and  work.  Where  all  is  known,  little  need  be  said.  We  are 
advancing  even  while  we  speak.  The  church  stands  in 
strength,  strong  in  the  confidence  of  those  who  are  allied  with 
it.  This  is  the  present.  I  was  asked  not  long  ago  by  an 
editor  what  I  regard  as  the  largest  expression  of  this  pastorate. 
I  had  no  answer  ready.  But  my  mind  and  my  eye  turned 
instinctively  to  this  stately  building  rs  a  very  substantial 
creation  and  memorial.  But  I  did  not  build  the  house.  More 
expressive  still  is  the  Church  itself,  the  Church  of  devout 
souls,  with  its  great  membership,  reaching  into  other  lands, 
and  beyond  the  splendid  stars.  But  the  Church  is  not  of  my 
making.  What  was  there  which  I  could  call  mine?  I  am  by 
no  means  disposed  to  deny  my  part  of  the  work  which  is 
embodied  in  the  Church  and  its  house.  I  have  built  too  many 
years  into  both.  But  they  are  not  mine.  Better  than  that, 
they  are  ours,  yours  and  mine,  and  thus  they  stand  an 
immovable  witness  to  the  years  wherein  we  have  wrought 
together. 

Good  years  they  have  been!  I  came  when  the  young  life 
was  making  itself  manifest.  The  patient  prophecy  of  prophet 
and  apostle  was  entering  on  its  fulfillment.  A  new  chapter  in 
church  history  was  to  be  written.    The  young  life  was  coming 


14 


Fortieth  Anniversary. 


to  its  own  —  with  open  mind,  fine  ambitions,  with  its  years  in 
front  of  it.  There  was  no  parting  from  the  men  who  had 
made  possible  these  activities,  but  one  heart  and  one  strength. 
This  union  has  helped  shape  the  future.  We  are  young 
enough  to  live,  and  old  enough  to  live  bravely  and  forcibly. 
There  is  no  demand  for  new  methods,  for  our  methods  are 
already  new.  The  need  is  for  a  more  complete  fellowship  and 
combination  of  energies,  that  every  one  may  have  his  work  and 
its  recompense. 

Something  might  well  be  said  in  appreciation  of  the  system 
of  church  life  in  which  we  stand,  as  our  founders  did.  This  is 
a  church  of  the  people.  It  has  its  pattern  and  warrant  in  the 
day  when  Christianity  was  simple  and  its  ways  natural.  It 
was  the  only  system  practicable  here  when  our  beginning  was 
made.  It  worked  well.  In  due  time,  and  in  some  degree 
under  its  influence,  the  new  nation  fashioned  itself  after  the 
same  method.  I  do  not  claim  that  the  churches  shaped  the 
nation;  but  they  have  kept  the  same  character.  Both  are 
republican.  The  churches  stand  in  fellowship,  but  there  is  no 
authority  of  men  over  us  who  are  here.  This  we  like.  This 
has  answered  its  end.  We  have  met  the  questions  of  the 
times  and  solved  them.  We  have  served  the  state  and  have 
reached  into  the  regions  beyond  which  seem  to  gravitate 
towards  our  shores.  We  have  kept "  the  faith  which  was  once 
for  all  delivered  unto  the  saints."  We  respect  the  teaching  of 
later  saints  and  sages.  But  no  word  of  man  stands  between  us 
and  the  New  Testament.  We  can  read,  and  read  even  the 
Greek  sentences.  Variety  of  interpretation  and  understand- 
ing must  needs  come,  but  the  appeal  is  always  to  the  New 
Testament.  We  are  not  alone  in  this,  but  this  is  our  way. 
Our  churches,  with  this  church,  are  sending  the  truth  through 
the  world;  and  with  this  have  furnished  liberty  and  good 
government,  education,  righteousness,  and  all  the  virtues.  So 
have  others  done,  but  none  has  surpassed  us.  Our  system  has 
proved  its  sufficiency,  and  stood  all  tests. 


First  Sermon. 


15 


We  boast  no  superiority,  but  we  believe  in  the  way  of  the 
fathers,  and  our  loyalty  to  them  makes  us  prefer  the  things 
which  they  established,  content  with  their  wisdom  and  satis- 
fied with  its  actual  operation.  We  are  not  bound  to  them  by 
written  compact,  but  it  is  an  added  and  peculiar  pleasure  that 
in  our  freedom  we  walk  in  their  paths.  Our  loyalty  is  their 
due.  If  we  are  to  have  claim  upon  posterity  we  must  be  just 
to  our  ancestry.  We  are  very  strong,  yet  we  can  receive 
enlargement.  Agreement  we  have :  there  might  be  a  stronger 
and  larger  binding  of  our  purposes  and  forces;  a  more  com- 
plete devotion  to  our  Saviour,  our  Lord;  an  utter  faith  in 
God  and  an  obedience  which  never  hesitates  before  his  com- 
mandments. Then  we  are  ready  for  the  years  to  come.  We 
have  been  true  to  our  past. 

The  line  of  ten  ministers  is  unbroken,  from  the  godly 
Shepard  to  the  learned  Holmes;  from  matchless  Mitchel  to 
the  venerated  Albro.  These  have  found  the  reward  of  their 
fidelity.  We  have  kept  the  faith.  The  gifts  which  we  in- 
herited will  make  a  large  bequest.  It  is  the  future  with  which 
we  must  now  keep  faith,  and  we  shall  do  it;  in  His  name,  and  as 
God  shall  give  us  grace.  The  church  has  many  gifts  and  large 
wealth,  but  its  choicest  treasure  is  its  future,  which  holds  its 
past  and  will  not  let  it  go.  We  devote  ourselves;  we  pledge 
those  who  shall,  one  by  one,  glide  into  our  places  and  rise 
quickly  to  our  privileges.  For  the  great  blessing  is  life,  and 
life  will  be  here  abundantly  —  even  the  power  of  an  endless 
life. 

What  now  remains  for  me  to  say,  but  that  I  give  God  thanks 
that  he  set  me  into  his  ministry,  and  appointed  my  place  here, 
where  I  should  live,  be  compelled  to  live  by  the  life  which 
surrounds  us,  pervades  the  air,  stimulates  the  thought,  carries 
us  into  the  light!  I  bless  God  for  his  goodness!  I  bless  you, 
my  dear  people,  for  your  kindness!  You  have  been  very  good 
to  me ;  very  considerate  and  patient ;  granting  me  liberty,  and 
as  large  an  opportunity  to  live  as  a  man  could  desire.  You 


16 


Fortieth  Anniversary. 


make  greater  account  than  I  can  of  the  work  of  the  years. 
I  try  to  rise  toward  your  estimate.  So  far  as  this  I  come 
readily :  to  thank  you,  to  bless  God,  in  all  gratitude  and  cheer- 
fulness to  move  on,  in  the  cheer  of  your  confidence,  the  comfort 
of  your  affection,  the  fellowship  of  your  service, —  on  along 
the  path  which  grows  brighter  and  brighter  unto  the  perfect 
day. 

We  will  keep  faith  with  God  and  with  one  another,  and 
faith  with  those  into  whose  work  we  have  entered,  while  we 
again  repeat  together  the  old  prayer:  "  The  Lord  our  God  be 
with  us,  as  he  was  with  our  fathers." 


MT.  AUBURN  STREET  CHURCH, 
The  place  of  Installation. 


SUNDAY  SCHOOL  EXERCISES. 


Anniversary  exercises,  open  to  the  public,  were  held  by 
the  Sunday  school  directly  after  the  morning  service  in  the 
church,  and  the  spacious  chapel  on  Mason  Street  was  filled 
to  its  utmost  capacity. 

Supt.  Hewitt  G.  Fletcher  opened  the  exercises  with  a  brief 
prayer,  and  the  church  quartette  sang,  "  The  King  of  Love 
my  Shepherd  is."  Mr.  Fletcher  then  read  a  scriptural  selec- 
tion, and  Deacon  Charles  F.  Stratton  offered  prayer.  The 
hymn,  "  How  firm  a  foundation,  ye  saints  of  the  Lord,"  was 
then  sung  by  the  entire  gathering. 

Superintendent  Fletcher,  in  his  opening  remarks,  said 
that  the  school  was  glad  to  give  up  its  regular  exercises  for 
the  time  being  and  to  observe  the  happy  occasion  of  Dr. 
McKenzie's  fortieth  anniversary  as  pastor  of  the  church. 
If  there  is  one  thing  that  ought  to  be  recognized  at  this  time, 
said  he,  it  is  that  boys  and  girls  should  live  the  life  of  service. 
That  is  the  keynote  of  this  church,  and  that  was  the  keynote 
of  Dr.  McKenzie's  sermon. 

The  superintendent  then  presented  as  the  first  speaker, 
Hon.  J.  M.  W.  Hall. 

A  very  pretty  exercise  followed  Mr.  Hall's  remarks,  when 
the  little  children  of  the  school  all  entered  the  room  and, 
passing  by  Dr.  McKenzie  as  he  sat  on  the  platform,  one  by  one 
laid  a  fragrant  flower  before  him,  and  by  the  time  they  had 
finished,  his  chair  was  entirely  surrounded  by  their  sweet- 
smelling  tokens  of  the  children's  devotion. 

Dr.  McKenzie  was  then  called  upon  and  spoke  with  great 
feeling  of  his  pleasure  at  the  part  the  Sunday  school  had  in 
the  observance  of  his  anniversary.  He  expressed  his  grati- 
tude for  the  beautiful  flowers  laid  at  his  feet  by  the  children, 

17 


18 


Fortieth  Anniversary. 


which  he  should  always  remember,  his  appreciation  of  the 
service  which  the  superintendent  and  teachers  had  rendered, 
and  his  thanks  for  the  kind  words  and  good  wishes  expressed 
by  the  members  of  the  school. 

Prayer  and  the  benediction  by  Dr.  McKenzie  closed  the 
exercises. 


RECEPTION. 


On  Monday  evening,  January  21,  a  reception  was  tendered 
to  Dr.  and  Mrs.  McKenzie  by  the  present  and  past  members  of 
the  congregation,  which  was  very  largely  attended.  After 
an  hour  or  more  spent  in  extending  to  Dr.  and  Mrs.  McKenzie 
the  personal  congratulations  of  those  present,  the  audience 
was  called  to  order  by  Deacon  Charles  F.  Stratton,  who  had 
been  appointed  to  act  as  chairman  of  the  formal  exercises 
attending  the  presentation  of  a  portrait  of  Dr.  McKenzie,  and 
the  gift  to  him  of  an  album  and  a  purse  of  money,  which  had 
been  prepared  in  honor  of  the  occasion. 

Deacon  Stratton,  in  opening  the  exercises,  spoke  as  follows : 

Having  now  all  had  an  opportunity  to  present  our  personal 
congratulations  to  our  pastor,  the  time  has  arrived  we  have 
been  looking  forward  to,  and  your  committees  have  been 
laboring  for,  when  we  are,  as  a  parish,  to  express  our  appre- 
ciation of  this  notable  ministry  of  forty  years  and  our  love 
and  esteem  for  the  pastor.  In  point  of  time,  this  is  the 
second  longest  ministry  to  this  church,  but  measured  by  the 
speed  with  which  men  have  lived  in  this  generation,  and  by 
the  results  accomplished,  it  is  by  far  the  longest  and  the  most 
fruitful  of  them  all. 

The  most  notable  event  in  these  forty  years  was  the  removal 
from  the  humbler  quarters  on  Mt.  Auburn  Street  to  this 
stately  and  beautiful  house  of  worship,  built,  dedicated,  and 
consecrated  by  the  united  devotion,  sacrifice,  and  love  of 
pastor  and  people.  As  we  look  back  over  these  years,  a  great 
procession  of  loyal  and  devoted  men  and  women  who  have 
labored  and  sacrificed  that  this  house  should  be  consecrated 

19 


20 


Fortieth  Anniversary. 


free  from  debt  pass  in  review  before  our  mind.  Of  all  the 
true  and  loyal  hearts  who  officially  joined  in  the  invitation  to 
Dr.  McKenzie  to  become  our  pastor,  but  one  remains  with  us 
to  this  clay,  honored  and  beloved.  May  his  life  long  be  spared 
to  us,  a  blessing  and  a  benediction.  A  jew  of  us  remain  who 
remember  the  beginnings  of  this  ministry,  to  whom  it  has  been 
a  blessing  and  a  delight  all  these  forty  years.  We  have  seen 
the  black  hair  turn  to  gray,  and  the  lines  deepen  on  the  rugged 
face,  but  the  presentation  of  the  simple  gospel  truth  has 
grown  in  power,  force,  and  beauty  with  the  advancing  years. 

No  pessimism  has  found  expression  from  this  pulpit,  but 
abounding  courage,  hope,  and  faith  in  God  and  our  fellow- 
men. 

The  tenderest  relation  of  the  family  life  of  many  of  us 
center  about  this  ministry.  Dr.  McKenzie  has  rejoiced  with 
us  when  the  heart  was  glad  and  our  courage  high  and  life  was 
opening  before  us,  beautiful  and  strong;  and  in  our  periods 
of  depression  and  sorrow,  when  our  house  has  unroofed  and 
the  rain  was  beating  in,  he  has  ever  been  a  loyal,  steadfast 
friend  and  counselor  who  has  led  the  way  to  the  unchanging 
source  of  joy  and  peace  and  life.  He  has  laid  his  hand  in 
blessing  and  consecration  upon  the  heads  of  even  the  fourth 
generation. 

All  the  powers  of  body,  mind,  and  soul  have  been  dedi- 
cated to  this  people,  and  we  are  *glad  to-night  to  express  our 
appreciation  of  all  that  he  has  been  to  us  as  a  leader,  guide, 
and  friend;  to  let  the  esteem  and  gratitude  and  love  which 
has  been  growing  all  these  j^ears  flow  out  in  free  tide.  From 
all  parts  of  this  broad  land  those  who  have  come  under  the 
power  and  influence  of  this  ministry  join  with  us  to-night  in 
praise  and  congratulation  and  thanksgiving. 

It  is  fitting  that  these  expressions  of  our  personal  and 
united  gratitude  and  love  should  take  some  more  enduring 
form  than  the  expression  of  the  lip  and  the  pressure  of  the 
hand,  and  so  the  pastor  has,  at  our  request,  kindly  consented 


Reception. 


21 


to  sit  for  his  portrait,  that  the  generations  yet  to  come  may- 
look  upon  the  face  we  have  revered  and  loved  and  call  to 
mind  the  glory  and  beauty  of  this  long  and  faithful  pastorate. 

The  arrangements  for  this  portrait  were  placed  in  the  hands 
of  a  committee  of  whom  Judge  Stone  is  the  chairman. 

Judge  Stone  will  present  the  portrait. 

PRESENTATION  OF  PORTRAIT. 
Hon.  Arthur  P.  Stone  spoke  as  follows: 

Next  Thursday  night  in  this  house  there  will  be  a  public 
meeting  in  honor  of  Alexander  McKenzie,  for  forty  years  the 
pastor  of  the  First  Church  in  Cambridge  and  the  Shepard 
Congregational  Society.  At  that  time  men  who  by  fan- 
effort  have  won  high  places  in  this  and  other  communities 
will  unite  in  a  tribute  of  admiration  for  the  successful  career 
of  one  of  their  peers.  This  to-night  is  a  far  different  occasion. 
We  are  gathered  together  in  this  place  bringing  with  us  a 
message  of  love  in  our  hearts,  the  household  met  together  to 
greet  the  head  of  the  house.  And  on  such  an  occasion  the 
remarks  that  may  be  made  must,  of  necessity,  be  an  incident 
of,  rather  than  a  reason  for,  the  gathering. 

The  committee  that  have  had  the  exercises  of  this  week  in 
charge  deemed  it  fitting  that  one  feature  of  the  occasion  should 
be  the  preparation  of  a  painting  of  Dr.  McKenzie  to  be  pre- 
sented to  the  parish. 

Of  coursel,  if  you  are  to  have  a  painting  of  Dr.  McKenzie, 
it  must  be  by  an  artist  of  established  reputation,  and  I  feel  that 
we  paid  Mr.  Tompkins  the  highest  compliment  in  our  power 
when  we  selected  him  as,  on  the  whole,  best  qualified  to  paint 
a  picture  of  this  man  we  love  so  much.  A  good  painting  of 
a  man  has  a  great  advantage  over  a  photograph,  —  it  not  only 
shows  with  fidelity  the  form  and  figure;  but  it  also,  if  it  is  indeed 
the  work  of  an  artist,  shows  the  real  man  that,  after  all,  is  the 
man  we  know.    But  the  artist  who  paints  such  a  man  as  Dr. 


22 


Fortieth  Anniversary. 


McKenzie  has  a  difficulty  that  the  photographer  cannot 
realize.  In  what  one  of  the  varied  capacities  in  which  he 
comes  before  us  shall  this  permanent  memorial  of  him  be 
presented  to  the  public?  As  the  wise  counselor  in  the  per- 
plexities of  this  life,  the  pleasant  companion  in  hours  of 
relaxation,  the  tactful  leader  in  the  affairs  of  the  church,  the 
valued  participant  in  public  affairs,  the  welcome  friend  of 
every  family  circle  in  the  parish,  or  the  sympathetic  comforter 
of  all  when  affliction  darkens  the  fireside?  In  all  of  these 
individualities  he  might  claim  the  artist's  attention,  and  a 
portrait  of  our  pastor  as  any  of  these  would  be  a  true  portrait 
of  the  man. 

But  I  think  that,  after  all,  it  is  as  the  preacher  of  this  ancient 
church  that  it  is  most  fitting  that  he  shall  be  portrayed. 
And  so  we  present  him  to  you  in  that  capacity,  —  the  minister 
of  God  arrayed  and  prepared  for  his  great  service  to  expound 
the  Scriptures  to  an  expectant  congregation. 

For  forty  years  he  has  preached  the  Word  of  God  in  our 
meetinghouse;  for  nearly  forty  years  these  very  walls  have 
echoed  and  re-echoed  with  his  eloquence.  There  is  a  tendency 
to-day,  less  pronounced  now,  I  think,  than  it  was  even  when  I 
was  in  college,  to  claim  men's  attention  to  the  simple  truths 
of  religion  by  eccentric  behavior  in  the  pulpit  and  striking 
peculiarities  in  personal  life.  One  would  think  that  such 
men  believed  that  people  should  be  startled  into  righteousness 
by  sudden  shocks  of  religious  electricity  rather  than  drawn 
to  worship  the  Almighty  by  the  strong,  pure,  soul-compelling 
current  of  an  all-conquering  love.  And  these  men,  most  of 
them  young,  I  admit,  complain  that  modern  times  are  such 
that  the  old-fashioned  methods  of  preaching  would  leave  them 
empty  churches.  This  old-fashioned  man  has  preached  for 
forty  years  in  a  church  of  reasonable  size  and  does  not  often 
complain  that  he  preaches  to  unfilled  pews. 

Possibly  he  has  realized  that  his  one  text  is  good  enough 
for  sermon  after  sermon.    I  say  one  text  because,  after  all,  he 


Reception. 


23 


has  but  one,  although  he  manages  to  find  it  every  Sunday  in 
a  new  form  somewhere  between  Genesis  and  Revelation. 
It  was  the  inspiration  of  youth  and  is  now  the  wisdom  of 
years  that  makes  him,  acknowledged  leader  in  his  profession, 
preach  Sunday  after  Sunday  with  ever  fresh  significance  the 
matchless  story  of  God's  love  for  man  made  manifest  through 
Jesus  Christ. 

Such  always  has  been  the  message  of  the  preachers  of  this 
church.  Such  is  the  message  that  comes  to  me  from  the  mute 
lips  of  this  canvas,  and  such  will  be  the  message  that  it  shall 
tell  in  the  years  to  come.  For  we  paint  his  picture  not  for 
to-day,  but  for  to-morrow,  and  those  who  bear  our  names,  in 
whose  veins  runs  our  blood,  whose  character  is  builded  on  our 
character,  shall  in  the  future  reverence  the  man  we  reverence, 
and  the  children  shall  look  with  kindly  eyes  upon  the  man 
the  fathers  followed. 

And  now  it  is  time  that  this  portrait  had  one  owner,  for 
it  has,  up  to  now,  had  many.  It  has  been  the  artist's,  for  he 
painted  it;  it  has  been  Dr.  McKenzie's,  for  to  its  preparation 
he  has  given  much  time;  it  has  been  ours  through  our  love 
for  him.  Now  I  give  it  into  the  hands  of  an  officer  of  this 
parish,  one  who  for  many  years  has  kept  the  property  of  this 
society  with  fidelity  and  careful  regard,  whose  service  has 
been  great,  and  I  now  impose  upon  him  and  upon  the  officers 
of  the  parish  the  additional  charge  of  this  picture  of  our 
pastor. 

Alexander  McKenzie,  pastor,  friend,  and  lover  of  the  people 
of  this  house  —  Puritan  Preacher  in  a  Puritan  Church. 

ACCEPTANCE  OF  PORTRAIT. 

In  accepting  the  portrait,  Deacon  Francis  Flint  said : 

As  representing  the  Prudential  Committee  of  this  ancient 
church  and  parish,  it  is  a  pleasant  task  to  accept  this  beauti- 
ful picture  of  our  beloved  pastor.    I  think  he  will  prize  it 


24 


Fortieth  Anniversary. 


while  he  lives  as  an  expression  of  the  universal  love  and 
gratitude  of  the  congregation  and  as  a  memorial  of  himself 
to  hang  in  sight  of  other  generations  to  come  for  the  next 
hundred  years. 

I  notice  in  this  fine  portrait  he  is  in  a  standing  position  such 
as  we  have  seen  him  assume  so  many,  many  times,  which  also 
reminds  us  that  he  has  stood  by  us  of  the  older  portion 
of  the  congregation  all  these  years  in  joy  or  sorrow.  I 
hope  I  may  add  without  offense  that  I  think  also  we  have 
stood  by  him.  This  Prudential  Committee,  although  seldom 
heard  from,  is  the  finance  committee  of  the  parish  and  has 
the  charge  of  this  church  building  and  property,  and  will  care 
for  the  portrait. 

One  of  the  most  charming  features  of  these  anniversary 
days  to  me  is  the  spontaneous  outburst  of  enthusiasm  and  love 
from  so  many  hundreds  of  the  past  and  present  members  of 
the  congregation.  Various  memories  come  to  us  at  this  time, 
but  I  think  we  have  reason  to  particularly  rejoice  in  our 
continuous  happy  family  life  together,  for  we  have  lived  in 
harmony  and  love  all  these  years.  May  this  condition  con- 
tinue in  the  years  to  come  is  our  sincere  wish. 

PRESENTATION  OF  ALBUM. 

Judge  Jabez  Fox,  in  presenting,  the  album  containing  the 
autographs  of  members  of  the  congregation  during  Dr. 
McKenzie's  ministry,  spoke  as  follows : 

Dr.  McKenzie  and  I  came  to  town  the  same  year,  —  he 
to  preach  the  gospel  and  make  bad  people  good,  and  I  to 
furnish  suitable  material  for  him  to  work  upon.  And  I 
have  kept  him  here,  for  the  doctor  is  not  the  sort  of  man  to 
run  off  and  leave  a  job  unfinished.  And  when  I  think  of 
all  the  excellent  qualities,  such  as  courage  and  perseverance 
under  difficulties,  which  I  have  enabled  the  doctor  to  cul- 
tivate and  perfect  in  working  on  my  case  I  cannot  help 


Reception. 


25 


feeling,  —  well,  I  do  not  like  to  boast,  but  it  really  seems 
as  if  I  were  entitled  to  some  of  the  credit  for  the  success  of 
his  ministry. 

And  I  suppose  it  is  in  recognition  of  my  services  in  this 
direction  that  the  committee  have  asked  me  to  present  this 
album.  Let  me  speak  of  the  merits  of  this  album.  In  the 
first  place,  it  is  not  a  photograph  album.  A  good  many 
of  us,  while  not  claiming  to  be  experts  in  penmanship,  would 
rather  exhibit  our  autographs  than  our  photographs. 

In  the  second  place,  while  this  album  will  make  a  distinct 
addition  to  the  doctor's  personal  estate,  it  will  not  add  a 
dollar  to  his  tax  bills. 

And  finally,  all  the  men,  women,  and  children  whose  names 
are  here,  sent  them  in  without  knowing  to  what  they  would 
be  made  to  subscribe,  but  knowing  that  no  expression  of 
admiration  and  love  for  their  pastor  which  the  committee 
could  frame  would  exceed  their  feeling. 

But  this  album  is  unfinished  and  I  will  leave  my  speech 
unfinished. 

Mr.  George  S.  Chase,  chairman  of  Committee  on  Invitations, 
as  representing  the  absent  and  past  members  of  the  church, 
spoke  as  follows : 

The  founders  of  this  church  were  immigrants  and  colonists, 
and  the  church  has  been  loyal  to  the  traditions  of  its  founders. 
From  its  earliest  days  men  and  women  have  gone  out  from  it, 
some  to  found  other  churches;  others  to  strengthen  churches 
already  established.  How  many  have  thus  gone  from  us 
during  the  past  three  hundred  years  I  cannot  say,  but  during 
the  forty  years  of  your  pastorate  this  church  has  granted 
letters  of  dismission  to  nearly  four  hundred  persons,  who  have 
thus  transferred  their  allegiance,  while  retaining  their  loyal 
memories.  Besides  these,  there  is  a  great  army  of  those  who, 
never  formally  withdrawing  from  our  fellowship,  have  re- 


26 


Fortieth  Anniversary. 


moved  their  residence  and  at  infrequent  intervals,  if  at  all, 
have  united  in  our  services. 

To  reach  these  absent  ones,  to  tell  them  of  this  memorable 
occasion,  and  to  invite  them  to  join  with  us  in  celebrating  it,  has 
been  the  work  of  your  committee.  And  here  I  wish  to  ac- 
knowledge the  Christian  courtesy  and  brotherly  love  of  those 
who  have  helped  us  in  this  work.  Busy  ministers  of  great 
city  churches,  the  perhaps  busier  pastors  of  country  parishes, 
active  business  men,  clerks  of  other  churches,  have  taken  time 
from  their  own  affairs  to  delve  in  old  church  records  searching 
the  addresses  of  members  who  went  out  from  us  years  ago. 
And  not  from  our  own  denomination  only,  —  Presbyterians, 
Baptists,  Methodists,  Episcopalians,  have  vied  with  one 
another  in  generosity,  crowning  all  with  loving  words  that 
showed  that  they  were  glad  to  do  this  to  serve  one  whose 
name  they  learned  long  ago  to  admire  and  respect. 

Not  all  who  were  sought  have  been  found.  Many,  especially 
those  of  the  early  days  of  your  pastorate,  have  entered  into 
rest.  Others  have  changed  their  church  membership  again 
and  again  until  all  trace  of  them  is  lost.  And  others  still 
have  not  used  the  letters  we  gave  them,  or  have  taken  them 
to  other  churches  than  those  to  which  we  dismissed  them 
and  so  are  beyond  our  reach.  But,  spite  of  all,  our  success 
has  been  far  beyond  our  expectations.  Once  traced  and  our 
circulars  delivered,  the  answers " have  been  quick  to  come. 
And  from  so  many  sources!  To  you,  dear  Dr.  McKenzie,  we 
may  well  apply  the  words  of  the  Psalmist,  "  Your  line  is 
gone  out  through  all  the  world,  and  your  words  to  the  end  of 
the  world." 

From  the  North  and  the  South,  the  East  and  the  West,  from 
where  the  new  Canadian  wheat  fields  border  on  the  Arctic 
Circle,  from  the  steaming  heat  of  Panama,  from  the  spruce 
woods  of  Maine  and  the  orange  groves  of  California,  from 
Yucatan  and  Seattle,  from  Greece  and  Bulgaria,  from  Syria 
and  Turkey,  from  India  and  China  and  the  isles  of  the  sea, 


Reception. 


27 


they  have  come  or  are  coming,  these  white  messages  of  love 
and  respect,  of  grateful  remembrance  and  cordial  good  wishes. 
And  not  names  only,  but  often  one  has  written  more  fully 
the  thoughts  of  his  heart.  Some  have  written  to  you  direct. 
Those  that  have  come  to  your  committee  we  have  preserved 
for  you.    Of  these  latter  I  have  time  here  to  read  only  three. 

Mr.  George  S.  Chase,  Cambridge,  Mass.  : 

Dear  Sir,  —  Nothing  would  give  us  greater  pleasure  than  to  be  of  the 
number  of  those  who  commemorate  Dr.  McKenzie's  fortieth  anniver- 
sary, having  heard  his  first  sermon  in  the  old  church.  I  fear,  however, 
that  ill-health  and  the  weather  may  prevent  our  acceptance  of  the  in- 
vitation, but  send  our  sincerest  congratulations,  hoping  he  may  live  to 
celebrate  his  diamond  wedding  with  the  Shepard  Church. 

Faithfully  yours, 

Joseph  and  Caroline  Burgess. 

Wareham,  January  13,  1907. 
Each  Sunday,  year  in,  year  out,  my  father,  on  returning  from  church, 
would  say:  "  Well,  Mr.  McKenzie  preached  to-day  the  best  sermon  to 
which  I  ever  listened !  "  The  conclusion  reached  was  that  our  good 
pastor  was  a  "  growing  man  "!  To-day,  I  doubt  not,  his  people  are 
thinking  the  same  thought.  Breadth  and  depth,  tenderness  and 
exaltation,  characterize  his  sermons  and  writings.  The  poet  and 
artist  in  the  man  complete  the  charm  to  which  his  audience  responds! 
His  prayers  epitomize  the  Psalms  of  David.  Like  Moses,  after  three 
score  years  and  ten,  his  intellectual  force  is  "  not  abated."  Long  may 
he  live  to  dignify  and  adorn  the  church,  honor  his  Alma  Mater,  stand 
for  righteousness  in  civic  affairs,  and  be  a  bulwark  of  strength  to 
neighboring  churches. 

"  Hath  he  not  always  treasures,  always  friends, 

The  good,  great  man?    Three  treasures,  —  love,  and  light, 
And  calm  thoughts  equable  as  infants'  breath: 

And  three  firm  friends,  more  sure  than  day  and  night, 
Himself,  his  Maker,  and  the  Angel  Death." 

With  highest  esteem, 

(Signed)    Caroline  Sands  Burgess. 


28 


Fortieth  Anniversary. 


Norfolk,  Mass.,  January  14,  1907. 

My  dear  Mr.  Chase,  —  My  father  thought  that  the  following  gene- 
alogical sketch  might  be  of  interest  to  you. 

Nicholas  Danforth,  my  ancestor,  was  born  in  Framlingham,  England ; 
baptized  March  1,  1589;  married  Elizabeth,  who  died  and  was  buried 
in  Framlingham,  February  22,  1628.  He  came  with  the  children  in 
1634  to  Cambridge,  or  Newetowne  as  it  was  then  called.  He  had 
a  son  Jonathan,  baptized  March  2,  1627-8;  who  had  a  son  Jonathan, 
born  in  Billerica,  February  18,  1658-9,  died  January,  1710-11 ;  who  had 
a  son  Samuel,  born  in  Billerica,  September  16,  1692,  died  about  1749; 
who  had  a  son  Jonathan,  born  in  Billerica,  June  14,  1736,  died  in 
Williamstown,  February,  1802;  who  had  a  daughter  Phoebe,  born 
August  15,  1767,  married  Barnabas  Cary,  and  died  at  Medway,  Sep- 
tember 8,  1843.  They  had  a  daughter  Pamela  Cary,  born  August  2, 
1788 ;  married  in  1814,  Darius  Ware.  They  had  a  son  Lyman  Cary  Ware, 
who  had  a  son  Lyman  Eugene  Ware,  who  is  my  father.  Consequently 
I  am  a  lineal  descendant  of  the  Nicholas  Danforth  mentioned  at  the 
beginning. 

This  Nicholas,  when  in  England,  was  a  friend  and  associate  of  the 
reverend  and  honored  Thomas  Shepard,  the  namesake  of  our  Cam- 
bridge church.  Although  Nicholas  lived  but  four  years  after  his 
arrival  in  New  England,  he  led  an  active  life,  and  was  closely  identi- 
fied with  the  interests  of  the  new  town.  When  the  important  com- 
mittee to  "  take  order  for  a  college  at  Newetowne  "  was  selected, 
November  20,  1637,  he  was  one  of  those  selected. 

The  remembrance  of  my  connection  with  "  Dr.  McKenzie's  church," 
the  church  of  which  my  Danforth  ancestor  was  one  of  the  original 
members,  will  always  be  very  pleasant  to  me. 

Yours  truly, 

Pamela  Cary  Ware. 

And  now  permit  me  to  say  a  few  words  as  to  the  album. 
This  is  an  age  of  combinations,  of  corporations,  of  trusts. 
Even  literature  feels  the  spirit  of  the  time,  and  authors  col- 
laborate in  their  work.  You  would  search  far  and  wide  to 
find  so  unique  a  specimen  of  collaborated  authorship  as  this. 

We  know  of  others  equally  or  more  voluminous  in  our  own 
neighborhood,  but  they  were  restricted  to  special  classes, — 


Reception. 


29 


college  students  or  high  school  graduates.  But  here  you 
have  authors  of  all  ages  and  all  social  positions.  One  card 
contains  in  printed  capitals  the  name  of  one  so  young  that  her 
baby  fingers  were  hardly  long  enough  to  clasp  the  lead  pencil. 
Not  far  from  hers  is  an  autograph  still  clear  and  strong  though 
the  hand  that  wrote  it  carries  the  weight  of  more  than  ninety- 
three  years.  Honored  judges,  great  merchants,  shut-in 
invalids,  men  and  women  bent  by  toil  and  sorrow,  mingle 
here  with  youths  and  maidens  full  of  hope  and  anticipation 
and  with  other  men  and  women  who  bear  the  burden  and 
heat  of  the  day.  Nearly  a  thousand  authors  have  here  com- 
bined to  tell  one  story,  — the  story  of  their  affection  for  you. 

To  me  perhaps  the  most  touching  and  suggestive  of  all  is 
a  group  of  names  known  to  but  few  of  those  here  present. 
They  come  from  across  our  eastern  border,  from  Nova  Scotia 
and  New  Brunswick,  from  Prince  Edward  Island  and  Cape 
Breton  and  far-off  Newfoundland,  where  the  sound  of  the 
sea  you  love  so  well  is  ever  in  their  ears.  I  knew  most  of  them 
personally  when  they  were  members  of  Dr.  Parker's  well- 
known  Sunday-afternoon  class.  Then  they  were  what  we 
called  housemaids,  a  class  apart.  Now  they  are  sisters  well 
beloved,  who  take  equal  rank  with  us  in  these  pages. 

May  God  grant  in  his  own  good  time  that  all  of  us  whose 
names  are  in  this  album  shall  find  them  in  that  greater  book 
which  is  being  prepared  above,  —  the  Lamb's  Book  of  Life. 

PRESENTATION  OF  PURSE. 

As  a  further  token  of  the  esteem  and  love  of  the  people  for 
Dr.  McKenzie,  the  sum  of  seventeen  hundred  dollars  had  been 
subscribed  and  was  presented  to  Dr.  McKenzie  by  Mr.  George 
S.  Saunders,  the  senior  deacon  of  the  church,  who  said: 

Our  dear  Pastor  and  Personal  Friend,  —  I  desire  to  say,  in 
behalf  of  the  committee  in  charge  of  arrangements  for  the 
various  services  and  gatherings  connected  with  this  anniver- 


30 


Fortieth  Anniversary. 


sary  week,  that  the  hearty  and  spontaneous  response  to  the 
invitations  has  been  most  gratifying,  but  especially  appreci- 
ated are  the  many  letters  that  have  come,  not  only  from  your 
present  parishioners,  but  from  those  who  in  former  years  were 
identified  with  this  church,  enclosing  loving  remembrances, 
and  expressing  affection  and  deepest  regard  for  you,  the  pastor 
for  two  score  years  of  this  historic  church.  It  seems  not  out 
of  place  to  quote  from  a  few  of  these  many  letters. 

One  writing  from  a  distant  city  says,  "  I  am  happy  to  be 
remembered  by  the  church  in  Cambridge  on  this  occasion, 
and  glad  to  be  allowed  to  unite  with  others  in  an  expression 
of  personal  gratitude  to  Dr.  McKenzie  and  high  appreciation 
of  his  long  and  faithful  service." 

Another  with  her  gift  writes:  "  In  loving  memory  of  my 
mother,  who  was  a  devoted  friend  of  the  Shepard  Church  and 
Dr.  McKenzie." 

Another  writes:  "  This  small  gift  comes  with  a  great  deal 
of  feeling  and  much  love." 

These  and  like  expressions  only  serve  to  indicate  the  love 
and  regard  in  which  you  are  held  by  your  parishioners. 

It  is,  therefore,  with  great  pleasure,  in  behalf  of  your  pa- 
rishioners and  friends,  that  I  now  present  to  you  and  Mrs. 
McKenzie,  who  has  been  your  helpmeet,  and  whose  wise 
counsel  through  all  these  years  has  enabled  you  to  carry  on 
your  chosen  work,  this  free-will  offering  of  a  grateful  people. 

RESPONSE  OF  DR.  McKENZIE. 

M r.  Chairman  and  Friends, — You  have  given  me  such  ample 
opportunity  to  say  all  that  I  ought  to  say  in  connection  with 
this  anniversary  that  I  will  make  but  a  few  remarks  at  this 
time.  Let  me  say  once  for  all  that  I  am  deeply  moved,  more 
than  I  can  tell  you,  by  all  that  has  been  said  and  sung. 

You  seem  to  have  recognized  the  portrait  of  a  friend  of  yours. 
I  have  been  trying  to  recognize  the  portrait  you  have  been 


Reception. 


31 


painting  in  your  words.  Just  now  and  then  I  seem  to  see 
a  slight  resemblance.  It  seems  to  be  the  portrait  of  a  man 
who  graduated  in  the  Class  of  '59. 

When  a  boy,  I  had  a  sister  living  in  Cambridge,  and  I  was 
brought  up  to  the  old  church  home.  The  sexton  once  took 
me  by  a  secret  path  under  the  pulpit  where  we  had  to  stoop  to 
get  through.  Benjamin  Franklin  says  that  to  get  through  this 
world  we  have  sometimes  to  stoop.  I  have  found  this  out  since 
and  I  have  always  remembered  this  little  path. in  the  church. 

I  am  very  glad  to  have  this  album  and  the  cards  which 
I  have  not  yet  seen. 

I  am  the  only  pastor  who  knows  this  church,  —  not  the 
church  of  to-day  only,  but  the  church  of  the  past.  I  do  not 
know  any  church  very  well.  It  is  rather  a  collection  of 
individuals,  and  every  individual  has  a  place  in  my  mind 
and  heart.  I  am  sure  that  every  name  will  be  a  distinct 
memory  to  me.    I  shall  cherish  the  remembrance. 

This  gathering  is  made  up  of  comparatively  newcomers. 
My  mind  takes  in  the  entire  forty  years.  I  remember  those 
who  were  here  when  my  ministry  began.  After  them  came 
many  good  men  and  women  who  have  now  passed  on.  No 
man  can  take  away  the  memory  of  these  people  from  me. 
There  will  be  somebody  here,  by  and  by,  to  take  the  church 
of  that  day,  but  many  who  have  been  here  will  work  in  that 
church.  The*church  of  the  past  is  mine.  It  is  impossible 
that  it  should  be  taken  from  me.  It  is  very  dear  to  my 
heart.  Men  in  the  past  have  their  church  and  their  friends. 
Men  in  the  future  will  have  their  friends.  But  the  church 
which  I  have  had  no  man  will  ever  have  again. 

The  other  side  of  this  sacred  trust  must  be  borne  in  mind. 
I  have  served  this  church  for  forty  years  and  it  has  served 
me  for  forty  years.  It  is  a  sort  of  double  relationship.  Per- 
haps it  is  almost  as  much  for  me  to  be  had  as  for  you  to 
have  me.  My  life  has  been  under  the  influence  of  the  place 
and  the  people  and  the  great  opportunities  given  me  here. 


32 


Fortieth  Anniversary. 


I  can  say  very  little  regarding  the  future. 

I  wish  that  I  were  worthy  of  all  that  has  been  said.  I  am 
fairly  overpowered.  It  takes  considerable  to  surprise  me, 
but  I  am  downright  surprised. 

I  have  letters  on  my  desk  to-day  that  seem  to  exceed 
an)'  fiction  ever  written.  It  is  very  kind  of  the  people  to 
say  all  these  things  and  I  can  only  try  to  live  it  out. 

It  was  my  friend  Phillips  Brooks  who  said,  when,  at  a  public 
meeting,  such  things  were  told  of  him,  "  It  is  very  kind,  but  it 
is  not  true,  you  know." 

It  goes  very  far  towards  making  these  things  true  that  you 
believe  them  to  be  true.  The  longer  I  live  the  more  I  exalt 
friendship.  Friendship  is  the  best  possession  in  the  world. 
I  feel  very  rich  in  friends  who  are  about  me  on  this  anniversary 
day. 

I  used  yesterday  three  verbs  in  one  sermon.  I  used  them 
very  deliberately.  It  seemed  to  me  that  they  were  true.  I 
believe  I  spoke  the  truth  when  I  said  that  through  all  the 
changes,  through  prosperity  and  adversity,  we  have  proved 
one  another,  we  have  believed  in  one  another,  we  have  loved 
one  another.  We  have  helped  one  another  in  many  ways. 
Your  testimony  makes  me  very  content.  I  am  grateful  for  all 
that  has  been  said. 

I  am  glad  you  want  the  portrait  and  I  hope  that  you  will 
enjoy  it.  I  am  glad  I  have  this  book  and  what  is  in  it.  I  am 
glad  I  have  this  envelope  and  what  is  in  it,  although  I  do  not 
know  what  it  contains.    I  can  trust  that  it  is  good. 

I  can  only  recall  to  mind  a  very  happy  remark  of  that  very 
able  man  whom  I  have  the  honor  to  follow,  Dr.  Albro,  who 
said,  "  I  should  be  surprised  if  it  were  not  that  the  kindness 
of  my  people  in  the  past  prevents  my  being  surprised  at  any 
kindness  in  the  present."    I  appreciate  and  thank  you  for  it. 

We  will  try,  if  you  will,  to  go  on  together  changing  my 
verbs  into  beautiful  realities,  believing  in  one  another,  and 
loving  one  another,  and  helping  one  another. 


PRESENT  CHURCH. 


PUBLIC  MEETING. 


On  the  evening  of  the  day  of  the  anniversary,  Thursday, 
January  24,  1907,  at  a  quarter  before  eight  o'clock,  public 
exercises  were  held  in  the  meetinghouse,  corner  of  Garden  and 
Mason  streets,  Cambridge.  For  this  meeting  nearly  four  hun- 
dred special  invitations  were  issued  to  the  various  public, 
charitable,  religious,  and  social  organizations  with  which  Dr. 
McKenzie  had  been  associated  as  an  officer  or  member  during 
his  career,  and  to  men  prominent  in  religious,  charitable, 
social,  and  municipal  life. 

The  special  engraved  invitation  read  as  follows : 

The  First  Church  in  Cambridge,  Congregational, 
and  The  Shepard  Congregational  Society 
invite 


to  the  Public  Exercises  in  Celebration  of  the 
Fortieth  Anniversary 
of  the  Installation  of  the 
Rev.  Alexander  McKenzie,  D.D. 
in  the  Meetinghouse,  Garden  Street,  Cambridge 
Thursday  evening,  the  twenty-fourth  day  of  January 
nineteen  hundred  and  seven 
at  a  quarter  before  eight  o'clock 
Please  reply  before  Jan.  17th  to  Please  present  this'card 

Frank  Gaylord  Cook,  Cambridge       at  the  door  before  7.35  o'clock 

Accompanying  each  engraved  invitation  was  the  following 
card  for  an  informal  reception  at  the  close  of  the  public 
exercises,  namely: 

The  Invited  Guests 
are  requested  immediately  at  the  close  of  the 
Public  Exercises  to  pass  through  the  door  at 
the  rear  of  the  pulpit  into  the  Chapel  for 
An  Informal  Reception 
33 


34 


Fortieth  Anniversary. 


In  addition  to  these  special  cards,  informal  invitations  to 
attend  the  public  exercises  were  read  on  the  Sunday  preceding 
from  the  pulpits  of  the  churches  in  the  neighborhood,  namel}', 
St.  John's  Church,  Christ  Church,  the  First  Church,  Unitarian, 
the  Old  Cambridge  Baptist  Church,  the  Epworth  Methodist 
Church,  and  the  North  Avenue  Congregational  Church. 

In  response  to  these  invitations,  although  the  weather  was 
excessively  cold,  a  large  audience  assembled,  comfortably 
filling  the  meetinghouse.  The  first  twenty  tiers  of  pews  were 
reserved  for  the  guests  specially  invited  as  above  stated. 

The  printed  program  of  the  exercises  was  as  follows : 


ORDER  OF 

Prelude 

Coronation  March 
Ave  Maria 
Andante  con  Moto 
Largo  (Xerxes) 

Prayer 


SERVICE. 

Organ  and  Harp 
Meyerbeer 
Chas.  Gounod 
John  Cheshire 
Handel 

Rev.  Charles  E.  Beals 


Opening  Remarks  The  Chairman,  Frank  Gaylord  Cook,  Esq. 
Anthem   Thine  forever!  God  of  Love  J.  A.  Butterfield 

Greetings 

From  The  First  Church  in  Cambridge,  Congregational 

Hon.  James  M.  W.  Hall 

From  The  Shepard  Congregational  Society 

Major-General  William  A.  Bancroft 

From  The  Union  Conference  of  Congregational  Churches 
of  Boston  and  Vicinity 

Rev.  Reuen  Thomas,  D.D. 

Anniversary  Hymn  Tune:  St.  Ann's  (No.  456) 

Written  by  Rev.  Abiel  Holmes  and  sung  at  installations  of 
Rev.  John  A.  Albro  and  Rev.  Alexander  McKenzie,  at  250th 
Anniversary  of  Church,  and  at  Dr.  McKenzie 's  30th 
Anniversary. 


Public  Meeting.  35 

Great  God!  thou  heard 'st  our  fathers'  prayer, 

When,  o'er  the  ocean  brought, 
They  with  a  patriarchal  care 

A  sanctuary  sought. 

Hither  thy  guidance  led  their  feet, 

Here  was  their  first  abode ; 
And  here,  where  now  their  children  meet, 

They  found  a  place  for  God. 

Thy  flock,  Immanuel,  here  was  fed, 

In  pastures  green  and  fair; 
Beside  still  waters  gently  led, 

And  thine  the  Shepherd's  care. 

Here  may  the  Church  thy  cause  maintain, 

Thy  truth  with  peace  and  love, 
Till  her  last  earth-born  live  again 

With  the  first-born  above. 

Greetings 

From  The  First  Church  in  Cambridge,  Unitarian 

Rev.  Samuel  McChord  Crothers,  D.D. 

From  the  City  of  Cambridge 

The  Mayor,  Hon.  Walter  C.  Wardwell 

From  Harvard  University 

President  Charles  William  Eliot,  LL.D. 

From  other  Bodies,  Religious,  Social,  and  Educational 

Rev.  George  A.  Gordon,  D.D. 


Response 
Doxology 
Benediction 


Rev.  Alexander  McKenzie,  D.D. 

The  Congregation 
Rev.  Alexander  McKenzie,  D.D. 


Organ  Postlude   Hallelujah  (Messiah)  Handel 

At  the  close  of  the  meeting,  guests  to  whom  cards  have  been 
sent  are  requested  to  pass  through  the  door  at  the  rear  of 
the  pulpit  into  the  chapel  for  an  informal  reception.  Coats 
and  wraps  may  be  left  in  the  pews. 


36 


Fortieth  Anniversary. 


PRAYER  OF  REV.  CHARLES  E.  BEALS. 

Eternal  God,  illimitable  Love,  we  thank  thee  that  we  have 
learned  to  call  thee  our  Father,  and  ourselves  thy  children. 

"  Thou  hast  made  us  for  thyself,  and  we  are  restless  until 
we  rest  in  thee";  neither  canst  thou  be  satisfied  tiU  thy 
nature  is  imparted  to  us,  thy  love  established  in  every  heart, 
till  all  share  life  with  thee. 

We  praise  thee  that  life  is  not  planless.  Thy  wisdom,  thy 
power,  thy  love,  order  our  steps  and  thou  dost  shape  the 
course  of  history. 

We  know  that  love  is  the  way  and  the  life  because  our 
hearts  assure  us  that  love  is  true,  eternally,  finally,  divinely 
true.  And  so,  even  amidst  the  storm  and  stress  of  life,  the 
bewildering  turnings  and  overturnings,  we  rest  in  the  calm, 
sweet  confidence  of  the  triumph  of  love  and  God. 

We  render  thee  hearty  thanks  that  thy  kingdom  is  coming. 
As  thou  dost  follow  seed-time  with  blade  and  ear  and  bountiful 
harvest,  so  we  rejoice  that  thou  dost  plant  ideas  in  the  minds 
of  men,  and  bring  to  sure  fruitage  those  great  revolutionizing, 
civilizing,  Christianizing  principles  which  make  for  stability 
and  brotherhood.  And  so  thou  art  teaching  us  that  they  who 
"  work  with  God  at  love  "  can  be  patient,  glad,  and  strong, 
knowing  that  their  work  is  not  in  vain,  but  is  work  that  shall 
succeed  and  abide.  And  that  we~  are  permitted  to  live  just 
now,  when  history  is  making  so  rapidly  and  so  evidently 
towards  that  love-kingdom  of  which  He  spoke  who  best  inter- 
prets the  riddle  of  existence  to  the  man-child,  we  especially 
thank  thee. 

Thou  dost  use  human  beings  to  accomplish  thy  divine 
purposes,  and  we  thank  thee  for  government,  and  schools  and 
churches,  for  law,  for  education,  for  religion.  We  thank  thee 
for  and  pray  a  blessing  upon  our  nation,  state,  and  city. 
Only  in  a  country  of  free  people,  with  institutions  which  safe- 
guard our  liberties;  only  in  a  commonwealth  like  ours,  rich 


Public  Meeting. 


37 


in  its  heritage  of  democracy,  idealism,  education,  and  morality; 
only  in  a  citj'  favored  among  the  cities  of  the  world  with  the 
light  of  learning,  open-mindedness  to  truth,  a  citizenship  of 
lofty  purposes  and  high  standards  of  civic  righteousness;  only 
under  such  favorable  conditions  can  such  lives  be  lived  and 
such  pastorates  be  made  possible  as  the  life  we  have  gathered 
i  to  honor  and  the  pastorate  we  now  celebrate  on  this  glad 
occasion.  For  high-souled  public  servants,  and  an  intelligent, 
right-minded  populace;  for  government  and  university  and 
temple  worship  we  bless  thee,  praying  that  we  may  prize  and 
so  use  these  privileges  that  we  may  worthily  carry  on  the  work 
begun  by  those  who  builded  in  blood  and  tears. 

We  glorify  thee  for  thy  manifold  blessings  upon  thy  servant 
who  for  these  many  years  has  ministered  to  and  in  and  through 
this  church,  bringing  vision  to  the  visionless,  comfort  to  the 
sorrowing,  steadiness  to  the  rejoicing.  For  the  broad  and 
deep  foundations,  for  the  strength  and  symmetry  and  beauty 
of  all  his  honest,  loving,  enduring  work,  we  thank  thee. 
Thou  hast  given  him  the  understanding  heart;  from  thee 
gained  he  the  warm,  generous,  tender,  human  sympathies. 
Thou  hast  led  and  sustained  and  inspired  him  through  all 
these  busy,  fruitful  years  during  which  he  has  builded  his 
life  and  thy  life  into  the  living  characters  of  thousands  of  thy 
children. 

For  him,  their  under  shepherd,  these  assembled  hundreds  lift 
their  gratitude  to  thee,  Great  Shepherd  of  our  souls.  And  for 
that  greater  multitude  scattered  abroad  over  all  the  earth  — 
the  thousands  who  have  been  helped  by  this  Christian  minister, 
we  bless  thee.  And  we  thank  thee  for  those  thy  servants 
who,  cheered  and  comforted  by  the  word  and  infectious  hope 
of  this  thy  message-bearer,  have  finished  their  course  in  faith 
and  do  now  rest  from  their  labors. 

We  give  thee  glory  for  the  many  visible  results  of  this  life 
dedicated  in  young  manhood  to  thee  and  to  the  service  of 
humanity.    And  we  thank  thee  for  the  things  that  do  not 


38 


Fortieth  Anniversary. 


yet  appear.  For  past  and  present  and  future,  receive  thou 
our  thanksgivings. 

Give,  we  earnestly  pray  thee,  unto  this  thy  servant,  whose 
labors  thou  hast  so  signally  honored,  in  these  sunset  years  of 
earthly  pilgrimage  the  glow  of  heaven.  Help  him  to  feel  that 
truly  "  the  best  is  yet  to  be."  Upon  his  family  and  dear  ones 
send  thou  heaven's  choice  benedictions.  May  nothing  but 
good  come  to  him  and  to  his. 

Bless,  we  entreat  thee,  0  Father,  this  church  that  has  been 
so  lovingly  loyal.  May  its  future  record  new,  bright  chapters 
in  its  story,  already  so  long  and  luminous. 

We  commend  to  thee  for  thy  blessing  all  organizations  and 
corporations,  political,  educational,  philanthropic,  and  re- 
ligious, represented  in  this  presence  before  thee,  and  bound 
by  living  ties  to  the  heart  of  him  who  has  come  to  fill  so 
large  a  place  in  our  ministerial,  municipal,  and  national  life. 

We  entreat  thee,  help  us  all  to  live  worthily,  as  honest  fol- 
lowers of  the  dear  Christ,  knowing  God,  understanding  and 
sympathizing  with  our  fellow-men,  bearing  a  simple,  real  word 
of  testimony  in  our  day  and  generation;  never  shunning 
labor  or  difficulty;  never  flinching  before  danger;  but  endur- 
ing the  cross  and  sharing  the  joy  of  joys  —  the  joy  of  the  cross 
—  with  Him  who  hung  on  Calvary,  a  witness  to  those  things 
which  are  deathless,  —  life  and  love  and  God.  We  ask  it  in 
ihy  hallowed  and  gracious  name.  'Amen. 

OPENING  REMARKS  OF  THE  CHAIRMAN, 
FRANK  GAYLORD  COOK,  ESQ. 

It  is  a  great  privilege  and  pleasure,  on  behalf  of  the  officers 
and  people  of  this  church  and  society,  to  bid  you  all  a  most 
cordial  welcome.  Many  of  you  have  come  from  different 
churches  and  from  other  public  and  private  bodies.  Your 
presence,  therefore,  is  a  recognition  and  expression  of  Christian 
fellowship  that  is  peculiarly  fitting  in  this  place.    Here,  in 


Public  Meeting. 


39 


1637,  soon  after  the  First  Church  in  Cambridge  was  founded, 
assembled  the  Cambridge  Synod,  the  first  general  expression 
of  fellowship  among  the  New  England  churches.  Here,  six 
years  later,  in  1643,  met  the  first  convention  of  their  ministers; 
and  here  again,  in  1648,  was  adopted  the  Cambridge  platform, 
upon  which  the  churches  have  stood  together  ever  since  in  a 
common  government  and  practice. 

Your  presence  is  also  a  conspicuous  recognition  of  the  abid- 
ing dignity  and  importance  of  the  Christian  ministry.  Though 
the  minister  is  no  longer  the  arbiter  of  politics,  as  he  was  in 
the  first  generation  of  New  England,  he  is  still  the  interpreter 
of  the  divine  law;  he  is  still  the  man  of  God,  and  in  his  keeping 
are  the  issues  of  life. 

This  fact  is  best  seen  in  a  ministry  that  has  been  prolonged. 
A  long  ministry  may  permeate  fully  the  various  agencies  for 
righteousness  in  the  community  that  it  serves;  it  may  build 
up  a  consistent,  symmetrical  structure  of  character  in  the  men 
and  women  under  its  teaching;  and  it  may  reach  outside  its 
own  community  into  the  various  moral  and  spiritual  activities 
of  the  larger  fellowship  and  life. 

Such  ministries  have  become  traditional  in  this  church. 
During  its  existence  of  two  hundred  and  seventy  years  there 
have  been  but  eleven  pastorates;  one,  that  of  Dr.  Nathaniel 
Appleton,  continued  for  sixty-seven  years,  and  three  others 
continued  for  thirty  years  or  more.  The  present  pastorate, 
the  second  of  them  all  in  length,  has  now  continued  for  con- 
siderably more  than  a  generation;  and  to  what  extent  it  has 
influenced  the  church,  the  community,  and  the  outer  world 
others  better  qualified  will  presently  speak. 

But  your  presence  is  most  of  all  a  tribute  to  a  personality. 
For  it  is  not  the  duration  of  a  pastorate  so  much  as  the  char- 
acter of  the  man  who  fills  it  that  gives  it  dignity  and  power; 
and  if  we  shall  leave  this  sanctuary  with  a  firmer  conviction 
that  he  best  serves  his  community,  his  church,  and  his  God 
who  conceives  and  upholds  Christian  ideals  and  strives 


40  Fortieth  Anniversary. 

unselfishly  to  realize  them  in  his  life,  we  shall  not  have  come 
in  vain. 

In  the  work  of  a  Christian  minister,  first  in  importance  is 
his  church,  the  inner  circle  of  his  Christian  fellowship.  For, 
while  to  all  members  of  his  congregation  he  gives  his  faithful 
watch  and  ward,  and  bestows  his  other  gracious  and  tender 
offices,  yet  to  those  who  with  him  have  shared  the  same  faith 
and  subscribed  the  same  covenant,  his  relation  is  most  inti- 
mate and  dear. 

Of  the  church  none  are  so  near  the  minister  as  are  those 
laymen  who  have  the  honored  name  and  office  of  deacons. 
They  are  his  cabinet,  and  they  participate  with  him  in  the  holy 
offices  of  the  communion.  What  person,  then,  is  better  quali- 
fied to  speak  for  this  church  than  one  who  for  thirty  years 
here  worthily  bore  the  name  and  performed  the  duties  of 
deacon,  a  man  who,  however  often  he  was  called  to  the  service 
of  the  city,  never  neglected  his  duties  to  his  church,  and  who, 
though  at  present  sojourning  in  a  neighboring  city,  is  still  a 
member  of  this  church,  —  Hon.  James  M.  W.  Hall. 

ADDRESS  OF  HON.  JAMES  M.  W.  HALL. 

Some  years  ago  the  office  of  city  missionary  of  Boston  was 
held  by  a  very  old  gentleman  everywhere  known  as  "  Father 
Cleveland,"  an  uncle  of  President  Cleveland,  at  that  time 
in  office.  He  lived  to  the  very  great  age  of  ninety-nine  years 
and  ten  months,  and  continued  in  office  to  the  end.  His 
custom  each  year,  for  many  years,  was  to  call  upon  several  of 
the  leading  merchants  of  Boston  to  assist  him  in  eking  out  a 
somewhat  meager  salary  by  their  annual  gifts.  One  member 
of  the  firm  with  whom  I  had  my  early  business  training  was 
one  of  these  givers.  On  his  ninetieth  birthday  the  good  old 
man  called  at  the  office  to  receive  his  annual  gift.  The  donor 
said,  "  Father  Cleveland,  if  you  will  live  to  be  one  hundred 


Public  Meeting. 


41 


years  of  age,  I  will  give  you  $100."  As  each  year  passed  this 
promise  seemed  to  be  stamped  more  clearly  on  his  memory, 
and  after  receiving  his  annual  gift,  he  would  place  his  hand 
on  the  shoulder  of  this  giver,  and  say,  "  Now,  George,  remem- 
ber, when  I  get  to  be  one  hundred  years  old  I  am  to  have  from 
you  $100."  The  reply  was,  "  You  are  sure  to  receive  it, 
Father  Cleveland,  just  as  I  have  promised."  On  his  ninety- 
ninth  birthday,  after  receiving  the  annual  amount,  he  said  in 
very  pathetic  tones,  "  Now,  George,  remember,  only  one  year, 
and  I  shall  be  one  hundred  years  old  and  then  I  am  to  have 
my  $100;  but  if  you  want  to  pay  that  now,  I  will  make  a  very 
liberal  discount." 

I  have  thought  in  connection  with  the  anniversary  which 
we  have  met  this  evening  to  commemorate  that  we  might 
anticipate  the  golden  anniversary  and  celebrate  it  with  this 
fortieth  anniversary;  but  I  am  sure  we  would  not  be  able  to 
say  more  when  the  fifty  years  come  round,  should  our  pastor 
be  spared  to  us,  than  we  are  only  too  glad  to  utter  on  this  occa- 
sion. So  if  we  should  not  live  to  your  fiftieth  anniversary,  you 
wiU  find  we  have  anticipated  it  in  this. 

Some  old  writer  has  said,  "It  is  not  safe  to  praise  a  man 
until  he  has  been  dead  a  hundred  years."  A  more  considerate 
and  accurate  rule  is  to  encourage  worthy  achievement  by 
proper  appreciation  and  expression  of  it  before  the  actor  has 
disappeared;  and  so  spread  flowers  in  the  pathway  of  the 
living  rather  than  the  departed.  The  reason  why  the  propor- 
tions of  some  lives  are  not  correctly  or  satisfactorily  stated  by 
the  historian  is  because  the  perspective  is  too  remote  to  afford 
accurate  or  measurable  treatment.  If  "  we  live  in  deeds,  not 
years,"  then  the  immediate  effect  of  deeds  is  quite  as  essential 
in  a  true  estimate  of  their  value  as  when  time  has  perhaps  put  a 
different  interpretation  on  them  from  what  was  intended  by 
their  author. 

Dr.  Guthrie  said  of  Dr.  Chalmers,  the  eminent  Scotch 
preacher,  that  his  size,  like  that  of  a  forest  tree,  could  not  be 


42 


Fortieth  Anniversary. 


measured  until  it  lay  prostrate.  Quite  true,  but  the  value  of 
a  forest  tree,  like  that  of  a  human  life,  can  be  estimated  before 
it  is  cut  down.  We  are  thankful  that  with  the  perspective  of 
these  forty  years  of  service,  we  can  pay  deserved  homage  to 
the  man  whose  worthy  deeds  we  are  met  this  evening  to 
commemorate:  and  bestow  it  while  he  is  in  active  service. 

A  good  text  for  an  occasion  of  this  character,  it  seems  to 
me,  is  the  first  two  verses  of  the  gospel  of  Luke:  "  Forasmuch 
as  many  have  taken  in  hand  to  set  forth  in  order  a  declaration 
of  those  things  which  are  most  surely  believed  among  us. 
Even  as  they  delivered  them  unto  us,  which  from  the  begin- 
ning were  eyewitnesses,  and  ministers  of  the  word." 

My  part  of  this  occasion  is  to  extend  the  "  Greetings  of  the 
Church  "  to  our  pastor,  on  the  completion  of  forty  years  of 
service.  For  thirty-six  years  of  this  ministry  I  can  speak  as 
an  eye  and  ear  witness.  All  who  were  the  older  members 
of  this  church  when  I  came  are  no  longer  with  us.  But  I 
know  I  speak  for  them  as  for  ourselves. 

I  will  refer  to  but  two  features  of  this  ministry,  which  this 
occasion  naturally  suggests:  One  is  of  the  character  of  the 
pastoral  work  as  distinct  from  the  work  of  the  preacher  and 
teacher.  One  of  our  most  eminent  physicians  said  to  me 
recently:  "  What  we  need  in  our  religious  teaching  is  more 
clinical  theology."  A  similar  remark  was  made  by  the  late 
Professor  Park,  of  Andover,  who  said,  "  I  learned  more 
theology  at  the  bedside  of  a  poor  woman  in  the  almshouse 
than  from  all  my  books." 

This  ministry  in  its  forty  years  of  pastoral  work  has  em- 
phasized this  point  and  made  the  living  experience  of  religious 
doctrine  the  essential  in  the  presentation  of  religious  truth. 
An  oft-repeated  verse  has  been,  "  If  any  man  will  do  this  will, 
he  shall  know  of  the  doctrine,  whether  it  be  of  God,  or  whether 
I  speak  of  myself."  (John  7 : 17.)  lie  has  acted  on  the  belief 
that  the  verity  of  our  Christian  faith  is  to  be  tested  by  experi- 
ence, rather  than  by  dogma,  however  venerated,  or  by  higher 


Public  Meeting. 


43 


criticism,  however  keen.  The  strongest  argument  in  favor 
of  Christian  doctrine  is  what  one  has  felt  and  seen  of  its  truth 
and  power,  and  one  such  experience  outweighs  ten  thousand 
such  assertions,  as  "  I  have  not  seen,  I  have  not  felt."  You 
cannot  prove  Christian  truth  or  anything  else  by  negatives  — 
but  by  men  and  women  in  whom  truths  of  the  gospel  have 
lived  and  moved.  Such  has  been  an  impelling  motive  in  this 
pastoral  work.  But  at  the  same  time  he  has  brought  from  his 
well-filled  storehouse  of  learning,  things  new  and  old.  The 
best  writers,  the  most  advanced  thinking,  the  latest  scien- 
tific discovery,  have  had  careful  consideration  and  wise 
presentation,  but  always  with  one  result  and  assurance  to  him 
and  us,  that  "  the  word  of  our  God  standeth  sure."  "  Heaven 
and  earth  shall  pass  away,  but  my  words  shall  not  pass  away." 

This  pastorate  has  been  familiar  with  the  sufferings  and 
sorrows,  the  tears  and  disappointments,  the  discouragements 
and  fears,  that  are  common  to  us  all,  as  well  as  the  joys  and 
hopes  and  pleasurable  anticipations  that  come  to  most.  How 
prompt  and  comforting  has  been  his  ministry  when  the  shadow 
has  fallen  on  the  home,  and  hearts  have  been  made  sad  and 
desolate.  How  cheering  have  been  his  words  as  they  mingled 
with  the  voice  of  rejoicing  —  "  Rejoice  with  them  that  do 
rejoice,  and  weep  with  them  that  weep"!  (Rom.  12:15.) 
This  has  been  a  marked  feature  of  this  ministry. 

Another  feature  of  this  pastoral  work  has  been  its  study  of 
things  that  made  for  peace.  A  large  and  influential  church 
as  this  has  been  during  all  this  ministry  has,  of  course,  con- 
tained men  of  many  minds.  Questions  inevitably  arise  that 
all  are  not  united  on.  The  most  natural  appeal  is  to  the 
pastor.  I  speak  from  a  most  intimate  knowledge,  as  one  of 
the  officers  of  this  church  for  over  twenty-five  years,  and  I  do 
not  recall  one  instance  where  a  division  has  arisen  and  the 
pastor  has  been  obliged  to  express  his  opinion,  but  that  he  has 
sought  and  insisted  on  the  things  that  made  for  peace.  And 
I  may  go  further  and  add  that  where  the  pastor's  plans  have 


44 


Fortieth  Anniversary. 


occasionally  met  the  criticism  of  his  most  trusted  advisers, 
he  has  been  as  docile  as  a  child,  and  as  "  true  as  steel  "  to 
the  spiritual  as  well  as  the  temporal  interests  involved,  in 
laying  his  own  plans  aside  lest  they  might  disturb  the  peace 
and  welfare  of  the  church.  I  am  sure  there  are  others  here 
this  evening  who  know  what  this  statement  means.  If  there 
ever  was  a  loyal,  true,  devoted  pastor,  it  has  been  this  one, 
of  whose  work  we  speak  to-night.  I  do  not  know  of  a  church 
of  our  denomination  whose  ministry  has  been  more  marked 
in  this  respect  than  ours. 

Another  feature  of  this  pastoral  work  has  been  the  constant 
and  faithful  attendance  on  the  stated  meetings  of  the  church, — 
the  prayer  and  conference  meetings,  the  ladies'  societies  meet- 
ings, the  young  people's  meetings,  the  social  gatherings,  the 
Riverside  work,  —  and  what  more  shall  I  say  of  the  outside 
work  in  church  conferences,  in  the  care  of  the  Seaman's  Friend 
Society,  as  its  president;  in  the  work  at  Wellesley  and  Am- 
herst, Princeton  and  Yale,  Cornell  and  Hampton;  and  the 
oft-repeated  annual  labors  in  the  no-license  work  in  our  city 
and  other  places  where  he  "  wrought  righteousness,"  "  ob- 
tained promises,"  "  stopped  the  mouths  of  lions,"  "  waxed 
valiant  in  fight  ";  and,  shoulder  to  shoulder  with  clergymen 
of  all  other  denominations,  proved  himself  in  all  this  varied 
work  —  "  a  man  called  of  God."  But  of  this  outside  work 
others  will  speak  to-night.  Our  greetings  are  extended  with 
memories  quickened  by  experiences  of  fidelity  to  trust  that 
has  never  wavered,  and  has  been  willing  to  spend  and  be  spent 
in  a  service  that  was  ever  a  joyful  work  and  anticipation. 

The  other  characteristic  of  this  ministry  of  forty  years 
relates  to  the  service  as  preacher  and  teacher.  It  is  very 
unusual  experience  that  in  a  ministry  of  such  length,  not  one 
Sabbath  has  found  him  absent  from  his  pulpit  because  of  ill 
health.  For  this  we  have  cause  for  deep  gratitude  to  God. 
During  all  these  years  seldom  have  exchanges  been  arranged 
with  other  preachers  —  so  that  this  church  has  probably  not 


Public  Meeting. 


45 


become  so  well  acquainted  with  the  pastors  of  other  churches 
and  the  character  of  their  preaching  as  we  perhaps  should 
have.  But  this  is  our  fault,  rather  than  that  of  the  preacher; 
he  has  understood  that  many  would  be  disappointed  if  he 
should  be  absent;  and  if  a  stranger  filled  the  pulpit  it  was 
with  a  general  feeling  of  regret  and  sympathy  —  of  regret 
that  our  pastor  was  away,  and  of  sympathy  for  the  visiting 
preacher  because  of  the  feeling  of  regret. 

And  why  has  this  preaching  been  so  attractive  and  helpful? 
Two  reasons  certainly  can  be  given.  One,  the  pastoral  work 
has  been  preparatory  to  the  preaching.  The  other  reason  is, 
the  "  old  gospel  "  has  been  preached  without  a  change.  As 
our  pastor  said  once  in  the  preface  to  a  course  of  sermons: 
"  These  sermons  will  only  be  popular  as  the  gospel  is  popular." 
The  character  of  the  preaching  of  all  these  years  has  been 
consistent  and  loyal  to  the  fundamental  doctrines  of  our  faith. 
During  the  last  forty  years  there  have  been  many  revisions 
of  creed  in  Protestant  churches.  Much  has  been  said  as  to 
"  higher  criticism,"  "  modern  theology,"  "  philosophical 
analysis,"  "  scientific  interpretation,"  "  environment,"  and 
"  evolution,"  but  as  16,000,000  copies  of  the  Bible  were  sold 
and  distributed  last  year,  and  only  6,000,000  copies  of  the  100 
leading  authors'  works  of  the  world,  it  would  seem  as  if  this 
old  Bible  was,  after  all,  the  most  accredited  and  reliable  of 
books,  as  we  have  it  and  as  it  has  been  preached  from  this 
pulpit.  The  preaching  here  has  not  varied  in  all  these  forty 
years.  To  be  sure,  some  expressions,  which  were  familiar 
years  ago,  such  as  the  "  Perseverance  of  the  saints,"  was 
changed  to  "  The  constancy  of  love."  But  the  fundamental 
doctrines  of  our  faith,  such  as  the  Incarnation,  the  cross  of 
Christ  as  the  fullest  possible  expression  of  God's  love  for  men 
and  the  only  redemptive  agency  from  sin  and  its  penalties; 
the  actual  resurrection  of  our  Lord  as  the  only  assurance  of 
eternal  life  to  men,  and  the  only  possible  explanation  of 
Christianity  in  the  world  to-day,  without  which  it  died  and 


46 


Fortieth  Anniversary. 


was  buried  in  His  sepulcher  —  these  facts  of  transcendent 
importance,  these  have  been  clearly,  consistently,  unmis- 
takably taught  and  believed. 

This  teacher  and  preacher  believes  that  he  holds  the  gospel 
in  trust  as  Paul  did;  that  it  is  neither  a  discovery  nor  inven- 
tion nor  construction  of  man,  nor  a  legacy  from  the  schools, 
but  purely  a  revelation  of  God  to  men,  in  the  person  of  his 
only  begotten  Son,  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord,  and  that  the  preacher 
has  no  right  to  tamper  with  this  trust,  either  to  alter,  amend, 
or  obscure  it  in  any  way.  And  this  is  the  message  which  by 
the  gospel  he  has  preached  unto  us. 

Our  dear  pastor  and  teacher,  you  have  often  sent  your  and 
our  greetings  to  the  crowd  of  witnesses  who  were  once  with 
us  here.  To-night  we  are  sure  this  invisible  company  are 
looking  on,  as  we  speak  for  them  and  ourselves,  in  memory  of 
these  long  years  of  service,  and  with  profound  gratitude  and 
love  and  approval  of  the  way  in  which  you  have  led  us.  Few 
have  seen  the  fruits  of  their  labors  as  you  have  —  may  you 
live  to  see  the  golden  anniversary,  and  may  the  years  to  come 
be  filled  with  continued  and  still  larger  fruitage.  This  is  our 
hope,  this  is  our  prayer  —  we  greet  you  and  bid  you  God- 
speed. 

The  Chairman:  In  the  Congregational  polity,  there  is  a 
larger  circle  of  the  people,  including  the  church,  which  is 
called  the  society  or  congregation,  the  whole  body  of  regular 
attendants  at  the  stated  services.  It  is  the  congregation  that 
sustains  the  public  worship,  promotes  the  manifold  work  of 
Christian  service,  and  meets  any  emergency  in  the  common 
life.  Such  an  emergency  arose  near  the  beginning  of  the 
present  pastorate,  when  a  debt  on  this  building  of  eighty-five 
thousand  dollars  was  raised  almost  wholly  in  a  single  day. 
For  the  congregation  will  speak  one  who,  in  a  notable  career, 
has  proved  equally  ready  and  efficient,  not  only  in  the  service 
of  the  church,  but  also  in  the  training  of  a  college  crew,  in 


Public  Meeting. 


47 


the  administration  of  a  large  city,  and  in  the  management  of 
one  of  the  largest  public  utilities  in  the  land,  —  Major-Gen. 
William  A.  Bancroft. 

ADDRESS  OF  MAJOR-GEN.  WILLIAM  A.  BANCROFT. 

The  occasion  is  one  of  rejoicing  and  of  gratitude  —  of  rejoic- 
ing because  our  pastor  has  stood  at  the  head  of  this  congrega- 
tion for  so  long  a  period;  of  gratitude  because  the  congregation 
during  all  these  years  has  received  his  ministrations. 

For  three  reasons,  at  least,  I  come  gladly  to  this  happy 
gathering  and  share  its  feelings.  First,  because  you  have 
asked  me  to  represent  the  congregation  —  a  very  pleasant 
part;  but  when  the  size  of  the  congregation,  its  importance, 
and  its  history  is  considered,  it  is  a  part  to  which  I  am  con- 
scious I  am  not  equal.  Secondly,  because  of  the  memory  of 
a  pious  mother,  at  one  time  a  member  of  this  church,  in  which 
she  deemed  it  a  high  privilege  to  listen  to  our  pastor  and  who 
would  wish  me  to  give  this  testimony;  and,  thirdly,  on  my 
own  account,  to  speak  a  word  in  praise  of  this  extraordinary 
man,  and  in  commemoration  of  his  extraordinary  ministry. 
It  is  now  nearly  thirty-three  years  since  I  first  heard  him 
preach,  and  marveled  much  that  a  man  could  preach  as  he 
can  preach.    I  have  not  ceased  to  marvel. 

In  some  quarters  it  is  held  that  words  of  praise  should  not 
be  spoken  of  a  man  in  his  lifetime,  and  certainly  not  in  his 
presence  in  this  world.  That  I  have  considered;  but  Dr. 
McKenzie's  life  in  this  world  has  been  such  that  he  will  receive 
an  abundance  of  praise  from  those  who  meet  him  in  the  next. 
Some  of  us  may  not  meet  him  there,  and  for  one  I  think  it 
prudent  to  say  what  I  have  to  say  here,  while  I  have  the 
opportunity. 

Why  has  this  man  been  so  long  the  minister  of  this  church 
and  congregation?  One  answer  is,  that  his  nature,  his  gifts, 
his  character,  respond  to  this  environment.    This  atmosphere 


48 


Fortieth  Anniversary. 


is  vibrant  with  religion,  with  learning,  with  patriotism,  with 
public  spirit,  with  the  refinements  of  cultured  society;  in 
short,  with  the  influences  which  make  for  high  intellectual, 
moral,  and  spiritual  achievement.  This  community  also  con- 
tains its  share  of  those  who  are  subject  to,  even  if  they  do 
not  exert,  these  influences  —  those  who  are  sometimes  called 
the  "  plain  "  people.  By  whatever  name  they  are  called, 
they  must  be  reckoned  with,  and  indeed  their  character  is  a 
good  test  of  spiritual  leadership. 

This  diverse  community,  then,  has  needed  and  appreciated 
a  man  of  conviction,  but  also  a  man  of  discretion;  a  man  of 
zeal,  but  a  man  of  toleration;  a  man  of  profoimd  learning 
and  of  ripe  scholarship,  but  of  deep  thought,  and  of  wide 
observation;  a  man  of  fine  sensibilities,  but  full  of  human 
sympathy.  When  to  these  resources  was  added  the  gift  of 
eloquence  beyond  the  attainment  of  most  men,  it  was  only 
natural  that  this  pastorate,  by  the  favor  of  the  Almighty, 
should  be  extended  these  many  years. 

The  founders  of  this  community  must  have  had  Dr.  Mc- 
Kenzie  in  mind  —  he  was  a  part  of  their  plan  —  when  they 
"  dreaded  to  leave  an  illiterate  ministry  to  the  churches,  when 
their  present  ministry  should  lie  in  the  dust."  Worthy  suc- 
cessor of  the  "  orthodox  and  soul-flourishing  "  Thomas  Shep- 
ard  —  Harvard  College  did  for  him  just  what  it  was  intended 
in  1636  that  Harvard  College  should  do.  If  the  spirits  of  the 
illustrious  founders  hover  about  this  place  of  their  mortal 
dwelling,  what  a  congregation  must  be  gathered  here!  Mingled 
with  our  joy  and  gratitude  must  be  the  glad  rejoicing  of  the 
immortal  fathers  who  see  in  the  very  town  of  their  election, 
in  the  very  church  whose  fostering  care  they  sought,  in  the 
very  pulpit  whose  minister  they  revered,  after  nearly  three 
centuries  of  spiritual  fruitage,  of  whose  seed  they  were  the 
heroic  sowers,  this  crowning  glory  of  a  pastorate  of  forty 
years.  And  we,  the  living  congregation,  inheritors  through 
the  generations,  of  the  great  things  that  were  done  in  that 


Public  Meeting. 


49 


earlier  day,  acknowledge  in  the  person  of  our  beloved  pastor, 
whom  a  Divine  Providence  has  permitted  so  long  to  lead  us, 
the  blessing  bestowed  upon  us  and  that  wider  community 
which  Harvard's  consecrated  teaching  has  continuously 
benefited. 

To  our  pastor,  then,  the  congregation  presents  its  fond 
greetings.  Though  his  influence  has  been  wider  than  our  con- 
fines, to  us  he  has  been  the  good  shepherd.  He  has  led  the 
flock,  wisely,  gentty,  patiently,  kindly.  He  has  guided  the 
well.  He  has  comforted  the  sick.  He  has  baptized.  He 
has  married  the  living.  He  has  buried  the  dead.  He  has 
spoken  tenderly  to  those  whom  death  has  afflicted.  He 
preaches  to  us  to-day  as  he  preached  to  those  who  heard  him 
when  he  came. 

Two  generations  have  called  him  blessed,  and  of  these  two, 
it  is  our  happiness  to  be  one. 

May  the  time  be  far  distant  when  the  vacant  space  on 
yonder  tablet  shall  be  filled. 

The  Chairman  :  Outside  a  minister's  congregation,  his  most 
grateful  and  helpful  associations  are  with  the  larger  fellow- 
ship of  his  own  order  of  worship  and  belief.  In  recent  years 
our  Congregational  churches  have  been  checking  their  be- 
setting tendency  to  independence  and  isolation,  and  have  been 
drawing  together  for  mutual  counsel  and  encouragement.  Of 
these  churches  located  in  Boston  and  its  vicinity,  over  eighty 
are  now  banded  in  what  is  known  as  the  Union  Conference 
of  Congregational  Churches.  Many  of  these  churches  are 
represented  in  this  audience  by  pastor  or  laymen,  and  they 
will  be  glad  to  have  speak  for  them  on  this  occasion  one  who, 
though  born  and  bred  an  Englishman,  has  proved  a  true 
American  of  the  highest  ideals,  and  still  adorns  a  pastorate 
that  he  has  filled  for  over  thirty  years,  —  Rev.  Reuen  Thomas, 
D.D.,  of  Brookline. 


50 


Fortieth  Anniversary. 


ADDRESS  OF  REV.  REUEN  THOMAS,  D.D. 

I  am  very  sorry  to  come  into  this  pulpit,  because  it  looks 
so  much  more  formal  than  standing  on  that  platform,  but  the 
one  thing  essential  to  do  is  to  obey  orders,  and  the  chairman 
has  said  that  the  laymen  were  to  speak  from  the  platform,  but 
that  it  would  very  much  oblige  the  congregation  if  the  minis- 
ters would  come  up  to  the  pulpit.    I  yield  to  a  higher  criticism. 

I  don't  wish  on  this  occasion,  thinking  as  I  do  of  Dr.  Mc- 
Kenzie,  to  speak  formally.  Formal  speech  would  not  suitably 
give  the  idea  and  feeling  of  one  who  has  known  him  as  long 
and  as  intimately  as  I  have  known  him.  I  feel  a  great  re- 
sponsibility because  I  am  asked  to  speak  on  behalf  of  the 
United  Conferences  of  Greater  Boston,  conferences  embracing 
about  one  hundred  and  four  churches,  and  also  I  am  asked 
on  this  occasion  to  represent  the  Congregational  Club,  which 
consists  of  something  like  five  hundred  elect  gentlemen. 

I  remember  one  of  the  members,  addressing  that  club, 
looked  down  upon  it  and  said,  "  I  never  look  down  on  this 
audience  here  but  that  it  seems  to  me  I  recognize  a  mani- 
festation of  more  brains  and  less  hair  than  in  any  other 
audience  I  ever  addressed."  Well,  that  is  one  man's  impres- 
sion of  the  Congregational  Club. 

I  remember  Dr.  McKenzie  was  the  first  clerical  chairman  of 
that  club.  Previous  to  his  occupying  the  chair,  laymen  used 
to  be  supreme  in  that  club,  but  after  Dr.  McKenzie  took  the 
chair  and  behaved  so  well,  spoke  so  brilliantly  and  so  wisely, 
other  ministers  were  invited  in  alternate  years  to  the  seat  of 
honor.  So  I  represent  these  bodies  on  this  occasion.  Indeed, 
I  represent  a  more  extended  circle  than  that.  I  represent 
many  people  on  the  other  side  of  the  ocean  to  whom  Dr. 
McKenzie  has  preached.  I  have  heard  from  them  inquiries 
of  this  kind,  "  Whether  that  gentleman  who  formerty  preached 
to  them  was  coming  again,  because  they  had  not  had  enough 
of  him  or  his  preaching."    So  you  see  for  what  a  large  con- 


Public  Meeting. 


51 


stituency  I  am  responsible.  Having  acknowledged  that  fact, 
I  want  to  come  into  a  more  inner  circle  than  that  which  is 
represented  by  these  associations. 

I  suppose  there  is  no  man  among  us  who  has  given  himself 
so  faithfully  and  so  largely  to  this  wider  ministry  outside  his 
church  as  has  Dr.  McKenzie.  There  is  no  man  I  know  who 
has  given  so  much  of  his  time  and  strength  to  this  general 
ministry  without  any  kind  of  remuneration,  except  thanks 
and  appreciation.  I  stand  to-night,  however,  and  specially 
for  a  select  circle  of  brethren  —  intimate  friends  —  who  would 
heartily  mingle  their  congratulations  with  mine,  to  the  man 
who  has  been  pastor  of  this  church  so  long. 

In  the  first  place,  we  found  in  him  a  very  deep  and  a  very 
rich  nature.  We  found  a  good  deal  of  a  mystic,  although  he 
does  not  seem  exactly  to  know  it.  We  found  he  was  leaning 
on  the  gospel  as  the  only  all-sufficient  medicine  for  broken  and 
contrite  hearts.  He  knew  mere  moral  teaching  was  not  ade- 
quate to  this  deeper  ministry.  He  found  certain  elements 
essential  in  order  that  these  broken  hearts  and  sad  lives 
should  be  met,  those  people  fed.  We  found  also  a  man,  — 
I  don't  know  what  Mr.  Hall  will  think  of  me,  but  it  is  true,  — 
we  found  a  man  liberally  conservative,  also  conservatively 
liberal,  a  man  acquainted  with  the  higher  criticism  and 
modern  theology.  You  never  know  a  man  until  you  sit  with 
him  in  the  quiet  of  his  study.  You  come  to  him  in  a  heart- 
to-heart  talk  and  you  get  his  most  intimate  nature. 

We  found  him  a  man  of  sublime  courage.  I  remember  one 
very  eminent  man  in  this  country  who  tried  to  get  the  presi- 
dency of  the  United  States,  and  in  his  desperation  turned  to 
the  leading  ministers  for  help;  and  among  others,  he  de- 
pended, I  think,  upon  getting  the  assistance  of  Dr.  McKenzie, 
but  the  doctor  was  far  too  wary  and  too  conscientious  to  lend 
him  that  assistance. 

Why,  amiable  though  he  seems,  Dr.  McKenzie  is  a  man  of 
tremendous  independence.    We  ministers  were  discussing  the 


52 


Fortieth  Anniversary. 


subject  of  restricting  the  length  of  sermons,  and  we  asked 
him  what  he  had  to  say  about  it,  and  we  found  him  really 
almost  offended  at  the  question.  He  said,  "  I  won't  be  under 
bonds  to  any  man,  in  any  congregation,  as  to  the  length  of 
my  sermon.  If  I  have  a  sermon  which  requires  ten  minutes, 
I  will  take  ten  minutes;  if  it  requires  one  hour,  I  will  take 
one  hour."   We  found  it  no  use  to  try  to  convert  him. 

We  have  crossed  the  ocean  together  twice.  When  you  put 
him  on  the  ocean  he  seems  a  different  man.  He  loves  the 
water,  loves  the  sailors,  and  loves  the  ship.  I  remember  on 
one  occasion  he  blossomed  out  into  poetry.  It  was  not  some- 
thing splendid,  something  out  of  the  ordinary  on  the  ocean 
that  made  him  poetical.  The  most  common,  trivial  thing 
would  suggest  to  him  a  poetical  effusion.  If  I  had  anticipated 
this  occasion  at  all  I  would  have  kept  those  poetical  effusions 
and  then  you  could  compare  them  with  Longfellow  and  Lowell. 

There  used  to  be  in  this  locality  a  very  select  club  of  about 
half  a  dozen  ministers.  On  one  occasion  we  had  with  us 
Professor  Drummond  who  was  lecturing  in  Boston,  and  when 
he  left  us  he  said,  "  I  want  to  thank  you  for  such  an  enjoyable 
occasion;  to  tell  you  the  truth,  it  is  the  best  thing  I  have 
struck  since  I  have  been  in  America,"  and  he  had  been  in  the 
Harvard  University. 

Dr.  McKenzie  belonged  to  that  club.  I  never  knew  such  a 
man  to  ask  questions.  He  would*  ask  us  questions  on  all 
portions  of  the  Scriptures.  We  found  out  after  a  time  that  he 
was  laying  up  material  for  what  he  was  going  to  preach  the 
next  day.  So  when  you  have  heard  him  on  occasions  when 
you  thought  he  was  outdoing  himself,  you  may  know  where 
he  got  his  inspiration. 

There  are  many  things  I  could  say  about  our  brother.  I 
have  real  love  for  him.  I  have  known  him  so  long.  I  have 
seen  him  under  various  conditions  and  in  various  moods,  and 
have  recognized  that  his  uniqueness  as  a  preacher  had  its 
source  in  a  uniqueness  of  mental  experience.    I  heard  him 


Public  Meeting. 


53 


preach  on  board  ship  a  favorite  sermon  of  his  on  the  "  Royal 
Bounty,"  where  the  Queen  of  Sheba  receives  gifts  from  Solo- 
mon. After  I  heard  him  preach  that  sermon  I  thought  of 
his  fine  ideas  of  the  royal  bounty  and  that  I  would  use  it  in 
my  own  way.  When  I  saw  the  sermon  in  the  printed  volume 
I  wondered  why  I  could  not  say  that  in  that  way.  I  gave  it 
up.  While  I  might  use  the  same  ideas  in  England,  it  would 
not  do  to  use  them  in  this  vicinity  so  near  him. 

Another  thing  I  found  out:  you  never  could  know  Dr. 
McKenzie  from  reading  his  sermons.  I  don't  know  any  man 
who  is  so  much  a  part  of  his  sermons  as  is  Dr.  McKenzie. 
Those  who  come  after  us  will  never  know  from  those  sermons 
Dr.  McKenzie  as  we  know  him  who  have  experienced  the 
ability  of  speech  and  the  way  of  utterance  which  has  made  him 
the  preacher  of  national  reputation  that  he  is.  I  hope  he  will 
be  here  for  some  few  years  to  speak  for  himself.  I  remember 
a  man  in  England  saying,  "  I  don't  know  what  we  are  going 
to  do  with  our  churches.  So  many  of  them  don't  seem  to 
appreciate  a  man  when  his  whole  soul  is  full  of  experience." 
Dr.  McKenzie  has  been  preaching  the  experience  that  he  has 
gathered  from  life.  That  makes  him  all  the  more  valuable  to 
his  congregation.  I  read  a  very  sensible  thing  the  other  day, 
and  I  thought  I  would  keep  a  copy  of  it  and  bring  it  to-night : 
"  And  when  you  have  found  a  real  preacher,  you  have  found 
one  who  grows  bigger  and  wiser  and  in  every  way  more  useful, 
aye,  and  younger,  too,  as  he  grows  older." 

The  Chairman:  In  any  anniversary  connected  with  this 
church  there  is  a  neighboring  church  whose  sympathy  and 
cooperation  we  always  claim  and  always  receive,  and  that  is 
the  church  which  shares  with  us  a  common  heritage  and 
name,  —  the  First  Church  in  Cambridge,  Unitarian.  To  that 
church,  as  well  as  to  this,  belongs  the  precious  memory  of  the 
men  eminent  in  piety,  in  learning,  and  in  holy  service  who  are 
enrolled  in  our  early  membership;  and  the  ties  that  bind  the 


54 


Fortieth  Anniversary. 


two  organizations  in  mutual  respect  and  in  Christian  service 
grow  stronger  every  year.  It  is  with  great  pleasure,  therefore, 
that  I  introduce  the  pastor  of  "  the  other  branch,"  who  not 
only  is  a  preacher  of  distinction,  but  also  ranks  among  our 
chief  essayists  and  humorists,  —  Rev.  Samuel  McChord 
Crothers,  D.D. 

ADDRESS  OF  REV.  SAMUEL  M.  CROTHERS,  D.D. 

There  are  certain  grammarians  who  are  very  anxious  to 
keep  the  purity  of  the  English  language  and  who  object  greatly 
to  one  of  our  ordinary  forms  of  speech.  We  must  never  say 
the  "  two  first  ";  there  may  be  one  first,  but  there  cannot 
be  "  two  first."  Are  we  no  better  here  in  Cambridge?  We 
have  two  churches,  each  of  which  claims  to  be  the  first,  but 
gladly  acknowledges  the  claim  of  the  other  to  be  the  first,  and 
I  am  glad  to  speak  for  this  other  branch  of  this  "  First  Chinch 
in  Cambridge." 

The  reason  we  put  so  much  value  on  that  term  is  simply 
filial  love  that  is  in  our  hearts  and  the  sense  of  continuity  of 
religion.  Since  the  church  is  something  more  than  a  body 
of  people  gathered  together  with  the  same  opinions,  something 
more  than  an  institution  of  a  day,  —  it  is  firmly  rooted  in 
the  past,  has  sacred  memories  as  well  as  sacred  hopes,  —  it 
must  cherish  its  own  history.  Here  in  Cambridge  it  is  not 
simply  that  we  are  proud  of  the  past;  it  is  that  we  feel 
that  we  owe  our  life  to  that  past. 

Now,  there  is  one  thing  which  both  pastors  of  this  church  in 
Cambridge  feel,  one  thing  which  united  generation  to  genera- 
tion, and  that  is  character,  the  kind  of  men  and  women  who 
actually  are  working  and  waiting;  and  I  think  there  is 
nothing  which  so  impressively  shows  the  continuity  of  religious 
life  as  to  go  back  to  the  beginning  of  this  church  in  Cam- 
bridge, ask  ourselves  what  kind  of  men  those  Puritans  were 
who  built  this  town;  and  what  kind  of  ministers  they  most 
loved. 


Public  Meeting. 


55 


Cotton  Mather  said  of  Jonathan  Mitchell,  "  Our  Lord  com- 
plains that  the  children  of  this  world  are  wiser  in  their  genera- 
tion than  the  children  of  light.  But  our  Mitchell  was  wise 
in  his  generation  and  exercised  his  wit  that  his  generation 
should  be  accommodated  in  all  their  interests.  He  was  en- 
dowed with  a  certain  soaring  and  serious  greatness  of  soul 
that  rendered  fly-catching  too  low  a  business  for  him.  He 
nourished  in  himself  a  generous  disdain  of  little  low  trifling 
matters,  and  was  of  a  leading  spirit  when  hard  service  was 
called  for,  and  of  a  public  spirit  for  doing  good  to  as  many  as 
he  could.  His  thoughts  moved  in  a  large  sphere  of  useful- 
ness, and  he  was  continually  projecting  how  to  do  good  in  the 
most  extensive  manner  to  more  than  the  whole  country. 
He  was  a  circle  whereof  the  center  was  at  Cambridge,  and 
the  circumference  took  in  more  than  New  England.  Mr. 
Baxter  hearing  him  said,  '  If  an  ecumenical  council  could  be 
obtained,  Mr.  Mitchell  were  worthy  to  be  its  moderator.'  " 

Mather  adds  that  "  the  disposition  of  charity  in  him  was 
rewarded  with  the  respect  which  he  formed  from  learned  and 
pious  men  who  were  not  of  his  persuasion,"  and  he  says, 
"  Had  the  spirit  of  this  good  man  been  expressed  by  all  good 
men,  most  of  the  ecclesiastical  differences  in  the  world  would 
have  been  evaporated,  and  it  would  not  have  been  so  long 
before  the  name  of  Congregationalist  and  Presbyterian  had 
been  melted  clown  into  that  of  United  Brethren." 

It  seems  to  me  the  historic  continuity  of  the  Christian 
churches  is  best  shown  by  the  men  and  women  who  lived  so 
many  generations  ago.  The  virtues  of  those  who  met  of 
old  in  this  meetinghouse,  this  evening  we  reverently  and 
gratefully  acknowledge,  —  the  public  spirit;  the  willingness 
to  have  the  mind  go  out  to  a  large  circumference;  the  catholic 
temper  of  the  mind;  the  kindness,  justness,  and  generosity 
of  the  old  times  here  in  Cambridge.  Men  used  to  say,  "  This 
is  just  like  our  Mitchell,"  and  we  come  here  together  and  say, 
"  This  is  just  like  our  McKenzie." 


56 


Fortieth  Anniversary. 


Here  we,  the  members  of  other  churches,  come  this  evening 
in  sympathy  and  with  the  wish  to  express  our  admiration 
and  our  own  loyalty  and  love.  There  has  not  been  in  all  these 
many  years  a  good  cause  which  has  not  looked  to  Dr.  McKen- 
zie for  leadership  and  counsel.  Again  and  again  in  social 
meetings  in  other  churches  where  I  have  been  I  have  always 
found  Dr.  McKenzie,  not  as  an  outsider,  but  as  a  friend, 
taking  part  in  them. 

A  large,  human  public  spirit  is  what  has  made  these  forty 
years  so  beautiful,  not  only  to  this  single  church,  but  to  this 
whole  community.  Amid  all  the  differences  of  thought,  all 
the  changes  in  these  forty  years,  this  ministry  speaks  of  the 
continuity  of  the  church. 

It  seems  to  me  that  Dr.  McKenzie  has  had  this  rare  happi- 
ness to  unite  in  his  own  ministry  two  elements,  puritanism 
and  catholicity.  No  one  is  more  proud  of  the  Puritan  than 
he,  but  he  has  always  been  lifted  up  above  the  mere  puritanism 
into  the  catholicity  of  the  one  holy  church  of  God.  It  is  that 
ministry  that  he  has  nobly  adorned  here  in  Cambridge.  This 
church  has  been  happy,  this  city  has  been  happy,  in  his  min- 
istry. We  would  say  of  him  as  of  his  predecessor  of  long  ago, 
that  if  other  good  men  felt  and  acted  as  this  good  man  has, 
if  other  good  men  preached  the  truth  they  saw  in  life  as  he 
has  been  preaching,  many  of  our  sectarian  differences  had 
been  forgotten. 

To-night  we  meet  here  as  united  brethren,  and  we  are  glad 
of  the  work,  the  long,  happy  work,  of  this,  our  honored  brother. 

The  Chairman:  Although  to-day  voting  is  no  longer 
restricted  to  church  members,  and  the  minister  is  not  consulted 
by  candidates  for  office,  yet  his  voice  is  still  influential  for 
civic  righteousness.  It  is  safe  to  say  that,  without  the  help 
of  the  ministers,  Cambridge  would  not  have  banished  the 
saloons.  In  fact,  we  do  not  realize  what  a  powerful,  though 
silent,  force  for  law  and  order  the  church  is  in  the  com- 


Public  Meeting. 


57 


munity.  This  fact  is  best  known  and  felt  by  him  who  is 
responsible  for  the  city's  welfare,  —  his  Honor  the  Mayor. 
And  we  are  glad  to  welcome  to-night  the  man  who  has  lately 
won  that  high  office  by  his  courage  and  persistence,  his 
unfailing  courtesy,  and  his  long  and  valuable  service  to  the 
city,  —  Hon.  Walter  C.  Wardwell. 

ADDRESS  OF  HON.  WALTER  C.  WARDWELL. 

As  a  representative  of  the  city  of  Cambridge,  it  is  my  pleas- 
ant duty  to  offer  congratulations  to  Dr.  McKenzie  upon  his 
fortieth  anniversary  as  pastor  of  this  large  and  popular  church. 
Forty  years  of  faithful  service  is  something  to  be  proud  of, 
and  when  the  doctor  looks  about  him  and  sees  the  results  of 
his  work,  he  may  well  feel  proud,  and  he  well  merits  the 
applause  and  approval  of  the  community  in  which  he  has  so 
long  lived  and  worked. 

He  has  been  a  power  for  good,  not  only  in  the  church,  but 
in  the  city  where  he  has  lived. 

Soon  after  he  settled  as  pastor  he  became  interested  in  the 
public  schools,  and  served  upon  the  school  committee  in  the 
years  1869,  1870,  1871,  1872,  1873,  1874,  and  again  in  1881. 
His  wise  counsel  and  influence  on  this  board  are  well  known 
to  the  men  who  served  with  him,  and  the  effect  they  made 
to-day  are  in  evidence  in  no  small  degree  by  the  high  standard 
of  the  public-school  system  in  Cambridge.  He  has  always 
been  interested  in  civic  affairs.  At  the  time  of  the  dedication 
of  the  Soldiers'  Monument  on  the  Common,  Dr.  McKenzie 
was  the  orator  of  the  day. 

The  veterans  of  the  War  of  the  Rebellion  would  feel  that 
Memorial  Day  was  lacking  in  its  most  principal  part  if  Dr. 
McKenzie's  kindly  presence  and  eloquence  were  missing  from 
our  midst. 

In  all  public  movements  of  good  he  has  ever  been  ready  to 
serve  the  best  interests  of  the  community.    For  twenty  years 


58 


Fortieth  Anniversary. 


the  city  of  Cambridge  has  been  entirely  free  from  the  curse  of 
the  saloons.  It  was  Dr.  McKenzie,  the  Rev.  Father  Scully, 
Rev.  Dr.  Beach,  the  Rev.  Francis  G.  Peabody,  and  many  other 
noble  Christian  gentlemen  who  realized  the  evil  of  the  saloons 
and  organized  the  movement  which  put  them  away  from 
Cambridge,  we  hope  and  believe,  forever.  It  is,  therefore, 
fitting  and  proper  on  this  occasion  of  this  fortieth  anniversary 
that  the  city  of  Cambridge  should  officially  recognize  this 
event,  and  I  am  proud  to  stand  here  to-night  and  extend  con- 
gratulations both  to  Dr.  McKenzie  and  to  this  congregation, 
and  to  publicly  thank  him  for  the  services  he  has  rendered 
our  city,  and  to  wish  him  the  prosperity,  contentment,  and 
peace  of  mind  that  he  has  so  well  earned  and  so  richly 
deserves. 

The  Chairman:  From  the  start  the  ministers  of  The  First 
Church  in  Cambridge  have  served  the  college  in  many  capaci- 
ties, and  in  many  instances  have  been  honored  by  her.  Of  the 
eleven  ministers  on  our  roll  all  but  three  were  graduates,  one 
was  president,  and  five  were  fellows  of  the  college,  and  from 
the  college  three  have  received  a  doctorate  in  divinity.  Of 
them  all  it  is  doubtful  if  any  one  has  served  the  college  in 
more  capacities  than  has  the  present  pastor.  He  has  been  a 
lecturer  in  the  divinity  school,  a  college  preacher,  an  overseer, 
and  for  twenty-five  years  secretary  of  the  board  of  overseers. 
But  of  this  the  one  best  fitted  to  speak  is  the  president  of  the 
University.  It  is  interesting  to  note  that  his  term  as  president 
has  been  but  two  years  shorter  than  Dr.  McKenzie's  pastorate. 
His  administration  has  embraced  a  new  and  distinguished  era 
in  education,  not  only  in  Harvard  University,  but  also  in  all 
grades  of  study,  and  throughout  the  United  States;  and  of  this 
era  he  has  been  the  chief  leader  and  interpreter.  Indeed,  his 
public  services  have  been  so  varied  and  beneficent,  touching 
not  only  the  educational,  but  also  the  social,  political,  and 
economic  welfare,  that  Cambridge  is  proud  to  count  him 


Public  Meeting. 


59 


among  her  most  eminent  citizens  —  President  Charles  W. 
Eliot. 

ADDRESS  OF  PRES.   CHARLES  WILLIAM  ELIOT. 

I  think  I  have  known  Dr.  McKenzie  longer  than  any  one 
else  here  present.  It  is  now  fifty-one  years  since  I  first  saw 
him  enter  my  class-room  to  study  with  me  the  subject  of 
geometry;  for  two  years  I  taught  him  mathematics,  — 
geometry,  algebra,  and  trigonometry,  —  the  only  subject  in 
which  the  human  mind  can  arrive  at  certain,  demonstrated 
truth. 

Now,  the  young  McKenzie  was  an  admirable  student, — 
laborious,  assiduous,  and  punctual,  and  with  great  accuracy 
and  facility  in  reciting.  This  facility  was  prophetic.  And 
the  first  quality  of  his  life  on  which  I  want  to  congratulate 
him  is  its  laboriousness.  He  has  lived  a  laborious  life,  day 
after  day,  and  year  after  year,  putting  all  his  strength  into 
his  work,  and  working  for  noble  ends.  He  is  first  and  chiefly 
to  be  congratulated  on  the  work  he  has  done  in  the  world  of 
thought  and  feeling  and  prophetic  hopes. 

The  next  thing  that  I  want  to  congratulate  him  on  is  the 
fulfillment  in  his  case  of  one  of  the  best  wishes  that  ever  man 
uttered  for  himself:  "  Give  me  neither  poverty  nor  riches." 
That  exactly  describes  Dr.  McKenzie 's  situation  throughout 
his  long  life.  He  has  enjoyed  that  felicity.  He  has  had 
neither  poverty  nor  riches. 

Then  I  want  to  congratulate  him  on  the  institutions  he 
has  served.  It  is  a  part  of  the  serviceable  man's  immortality 
that  he  has  served  institutions  of  permanent  worth,  institu- 
tions which  go  on  generation  after  generation  with  increasing 
serviceableness,  with  always  added  power.  Now,  Dr.  Mc- 
Kenzie has  served  just  such  institutions.  He  has  served 
Harvard  College.  He  was  for  twenty-six  years  secretary  of 
the  board  of  overseers.    That  was  the  first  board  instituted 


60 


Fortieth  Anniversary. 


by  the  Great  and  General  Court  to  create  and  administer 
the  college.  He  has  served  the  University  in  another  way, 
and  greatly  served  it.  In  1886  a  unique  experiment  was  set 
on  foot  by  the  overseers.  They  proposed  and  in  concurrence 
with  the  president  and  fellows  ordained  that  attendance  at 
all  religious  services  in  Harvard  University  should  be  made 
voluntary.  This  was  an  anxious  experiment.  The  corpora- 
tion and  overseers  engaged  six  men,  all  eminent  in  their 
calling,  to  conduct  those  religious  services.  These  six  be- 
longed to  four  different  denominations,  denominations  which 
many  persons  feared  could  not  work  together  in  the  conduct 
of  the  same  religious  service  in  one  church.  Dr.  McKenzie 
was  one  of  those  six  men.  The  others  were  Phillips  Brooks, 
Edward  Everett  Hale,  George  A.  Gordon,  Francis  G.  Peabody, 
and  Richard  Montague.  The  last  named,  because  of  ill-health, 
never  served.  The  five  men  conducted  the  services,  and  those 
five  men  proved  that  the  experiment  was  to  succeed.  They 
gave  that  historic  demonstration.  I  am  inclined  to  think 
that  this  particular  piece  of  work,  in  which  Dr.  McKenzie 
had  a  part,  and  a  great  part,  will  live  longest  in  human 
memory  of  all  his  works;  because  it  was  a  great  step  in 
advance  toward  Christian  unity. 

Dr.  McKenzie  has  also  greatly  served  this  church.  This 
is  an  institution  with  a  long  history  already  behind  it,  but 
longer  still  will  be  its  life  hereafter.  It  has  been  an  instru- 
ment of  civil  and  religious  liberty.  It  has  contributed  to  the 
advancement  of  all  the  ideals  which  animate  and  guide  re- 
publican government.  This  Congregational  church  he  has 
greatly  served.  The  felicity  of  laying  a  few  bricks  in  the 
walls  of  a  precious  institution  he  has  enjoyed. 

And  now  the  glow  of  the  sky  is  in  the  west  and  not  in  the 
east,  and  the  night  cometh.  What  shall  we  congratulate  Dr. 
McKenzie  on  for  the  future?  First,  on  the  living  influence 
which  has  taken  effect  on  the  lives  of  thousands  of  men,  and 
still  lives  and  will  long  live,  an  influence  which  comes  back 


Public  Meeting. 


61 


to  him  to-day  from  grateful,  living  hearts.  And  then  we 
congratulate  him  on  an  influence  of  which  he  is  all  unconscious. 
It  sometimes  seems  to  me  that  this  unconscious  influence  is 
the  greatest  and  most  enduring  influence  that  human  beings 
exert:  it  is  the  influence  of  a  word  spoken  and  forgotten  by 
the  speaker,  which  lives  in  the  life  of  the  hearer,  and  is  trans- 
mitted from  that  life  to  countless  other  lives — the  uncon- 
scious influence  of  character,  of  goodness,  of  wisdom.  Dr. 
McKenzie  knows  something  of  the  results  of  his  public  preach- 
ing, and  of  the  consolation  he  has  brought  to  the  suffering 
and  the  afflicted;  and  many  people  speak  to  him  now  of  the 
good  he  has  done  them ;  but  more  than  all  these  remembered 
and  conscious  influences  are  the  spiritual  powers  he  has  ex- 
erted without  knowing  that  his  face  shone.  He  has  forgotten 
the  timely  word.  He  has  forgotten  the  kind  look,  the  tender 
tone,  the  sympathetic  touch;  but  those  things  live,  and  will 
live,  and  will  be  transmitted  down  the  future,  a  broadening 
stream  of  light  and  leading. 

The  Chaikman  :  Often  the  activity  and  usefulness  of  a  man 
is,  in  a  degree,  measured  by  the  number  and  character  of  the 
religious,  social,  and  charitable  organizations  to  which  he 
belongs.  It  is  so  in  this  case.  There  are  represented  here 
many  such  bodies  with  which  Dr.  McKenzie  has  been  associ- 
ated at  some  time  during  his  career.  Were  there  time,  it 
would  be  interesting  to  hear  from  them  all.  But  their  pres- 
ence alone  is  eloquent,  and  he  who  is  to  speak  for  them  will 
be  accepted  gladly  as  their  spokesman.  For  over  twenty 
years  he  has  been  the  honored  and  beloved  pastor  of  the  Old 
South  Church.  Moreover,  true  Scotchman  that  he  is,  he  has 
a  strong  bent  toward  religious  inquiry  and  discussion,  and  by 
his  books  has  become  recognized  as  one  of  our  leading  theo- 
logians, —  Rev.  George  A.  Gordon,  D.D. 


62 


Fortieth  Anniversary. 


ADDRESS  OF  REV.  GEORGE  A.  GORDON,  D.D. 

The  chairman  told  me  the  reason  why  he  sent  the  ministers 
to  the  pulpit  was  because  there  was  a  clock  there.  I  notice 
that  did  not  seem  to  have  any  effect  upon  those  who  went 
there,  and  I  claim  the  privilege  of  the  laymen  to  stand  here 
upon  this  platform. 

There  is  one  distinction  which  belongs  to  my  subject;  I 
represent  a  large  constituency,  but  I  must  begin  in  bringing 
the  greeting  from  my  own  church,  the  church  that  I  represent. 

Twenty-three  years  ago  next  April,  not  the  first  day,  but  the 
second  day,  the  present  minister  of  the  church  was  installed. 
A  prominent  minister  was  invited  to  offer  prayer  on  that 
occasion;  he  declined.  He  did  not  wish  to  run  the  risk.  A 
prominent  person  who  was  to  give  the  right  hand  of  fellowship 
deserted  at  the  last  moment  and  your  minister  took  that  part, 
and  in  a  speech  of  rare  felicity  and  warmth  welcomed  the 
young  minister  and  cheered  him  under  his  sense  of  respon- 
sibility, and  greeted  him  as  a  fellow  alumnus  of  Harvard  Col- 
lege. The  church  of  which  I  am  minister  has  never  forgotten 
that  service.  Dr.  McKenzie's  ministry  has  extended,  as  we 
all  know,  all  over  the  land.  I  mention  only  some  of  the 
places  where  his  power  has  been  felt:  Wellesley  College,  Wil- 
liams College,  Amherst  College,  Yale  University,  and  other 
similar  centers  of  influence,  —  )'ou  can  think  of  them  faster 
than  I  can  name  them,  —  places  where  his  great  gift  of  speech 
has  brought  cheer  and  comfort  and  inspiration.  As  I  have 
observed  successful  pastorates,  they  have  been  largely  owing 
to  the  operation  of  this  principle,  a  due  balance  between  the 
devotion  to  the  particular  church  and  the  recognition  of  the 
claims  of  the  larger  community  beyond. 

I  have  in  my  thought  now  two  pastorates  where  men  of 
distinguished  ability  served,  where  the  preachers  were  not 
nearly  so  successful  as  they  should  have  been.  One  erred  by 
giving  nearly  all  his  time  outside  and  neglected  his  own  parish, 


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63 


and  the  other  erred  in  forgetting  the  claims  of  the  city  in 
which  he  served.  I  think  the  example  of  success  of  your 
minister  has  been  due  in  no  small  degree  to  the  perfect  balance 
which  he  has  maintained  between  devotion  to  his  church  and 
the  recognition  of  the  larger  community  upon  his  mind  and 
heart.  This  rhythm  between  the  individual  and  the  universal 
and  the  local  and  the  general  accounts  for  a  great  deal  of  his 
power. 

You  recall  that  during  the  last  week  of  Jesus'  life  on  earth 
he  went  into  the  city  every  morning  and  went  out  into  the 
country  every  evening.  He  had  an  arduous,  a  stupendous 
task  in  the  city.  He  went  out  into  the  country  and  brought 
to  that  task  something  of  the  freshness  and  grandeur,  the 
width  and  glory  which  were  out  there.  The  particular  sermon 
preached  here,  the  particular  prayer  offered  here,  the  par- 
ticular services  done  here,  have  been  greatened,  freshened, 
have  taken  on  largeness  and  character  and  power,  from  the 
fact  that  your  preacher  has  come  to  them  from  a  great  fellow- 
ship. As  I  have  listened  to  the  preceding  speakers  as  they 
dwelt  upon  the  noble  history  of  this  church,  I  have  thought 
again  how  much  of  greatness  all  this  lends  to  the  office  of  the 
minister.  The  minister  of  this  church  comes  with  purposes 
that  are  high  and  a  spirit  that  is  great,  but  the  office  into  which 
he  is  inducted  and  in  which  he  stands  puts  into  him  a  new  and 
greater  character.  You  see  it  in  every  magistrate  in  the 
country.  A  great  and  noble  judge,  recognizing  his  office, 
girds  up  his  loins  and  brings  all  the  stability,  the  honor,  and 
dignity  of  his  mind  into  his  office. 

What  is  it  that  is  the  last  and  final  consolation  of  the  min- 
ister of  the  gospel?  Mr.  Hall  speaks  of  the  stability  of  Chris- 
tian doctrine.  We  have  lived  during  the  last  twenty  years 
in  times  of  great  instability,  and  thousands  of  honest  men  have 
been  unable  to  find  anything  except  flux  and  change,  and  yet 
the  higher  spirits  in  all  ages  of  change  and  revolution  have 
found  that  which  abides.    Shelley  says  of  his  cloud : 


64 


Fortieth  Anniversary. 


"  I  am  the  daughter  of  Earth  and  Water.. 
And  the  nursling  of  the  Sky; 
I  pass  through  the  pores  of  the  Ocean  and  Shores : 
I  change,  but  I  cannot  die." 

At  the  whirring  loom  of  time  we  ministers  weave  the  living 
mantle  of  God.  He  is  the  breath  and  soul  of  all  our  being;  we 
are  all  poor  prodigal  sons,  lost  in  the  wilderness  of  change, 
until  by  faithful  following  of  the  Spirit  we  come  to  the  land 
in  which  the  Lord  abides.    God  bless  you. 

The  Chairman:  And  now  we  would  gladly  hear  him  whom 
to-night  it  has  been  our  delight  to  honor;  and  as  he  looks 
into  the  faces  of  his  friends  and  recalls  the  memories  of  these 
forty  years,  we  ask  what  words  of  cheer  and  hope  he  has  to 
offer  in  response  to  these  kindly  greetings. 

RESPONSE  OF  REV.  ALEXANDER  McKENZIE,  D.D. 

In  the  many  years  in  which  I  have  stood  in  this  pulpit 
I  have  seldom  felt  so  little  like  making  an  address  as  I  do 
to-night.  When  I  look  upon  this  gathering  of  friends,  and 
listen  to  the  very  kind  words  which  are  spoken,  and  think 
of  the  letters  which  I  am  receiving  clay  by  day,  I  feel  only 
like  standing  up  and  saying,  "  I  thank  you,"  and  letting  it  all 
rest  with  that.  I  am  not  a  little  embarrassed  and,  to  borrow 
a  familiar  expression,  I  am  very  much  at  sea.  I  could  not 
find  out  for  a  long  while  of  whom  these  friends  were  speaking 
and  writing.  At  last  I  have  found  my  bearings.  It  was  only 
yesterday  that  I  reached  the  conclusion  that  they  had  been 
saying  what  they  really  believed,  and  that  all  I  had  to  do 
was  to  believe  and  act  upon  it.  I  did  not  know  that  these 
things  were  true,  I  never  dreamed  of  them  or  aspired  to  them, 
and  if  I  were  left  to  myself  I  should  not  accept  them.  But 
these  men  are  of  discerning  mind  in  other  things,  and  they 
are  in  the  habit  of  telling  the  truth.  All  I  have  to  do,  therefore, 


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65 


and  ask  you  to  do,  is  to  believe  this  which  we  have  heard. 
It  is  a  very  comfortable  conclusion  to  reach.  I  have 
often  had  occasion  to  accept  the  opinion  of  others,  for  in- 
struction and  confidence,  and  now  and  then  for  humiliation. 
But  now  I  feel  grateful  and  hopeful  as  I  look  along  the  way 
before  us.  I  have  been  extremely  fortunate  in  my  friends. 
I  am  surprised  when  I  think  what  men  I  have  been  permitted 
to  know,  and  what  men  have  really  been  my  friends.  I  came 
to  Boston  a  boy,  with  not  a  man  in  the  city  with  whom  I  had 
more  than  a  nominal  acquaintance.  I  was  taken  into  a  count- 
ing-house on  Milk  Street,  the  youngest  of  all  in  the  service. 
I  never  knew  why  it  was,  but  it  was  not  very  long  before  the 
head  of  the  firm,  whose  name  was  held  in  honor,  singled  me 
out  and  invited  me  to  his  home  on  Beacon  Street  for  Christmas. 
It  was  the  beginning  of  an  association  which  grew  intimate  and 
has  been  prolonged.  When  I  left  the  counting-house  for  col- 
lege the  firm  gave  me  all  the  money  I  thought  I  needed  to 
bring  me  to  the  ministry.  It  was  at  that  time  that  the  home 
of  the  Hon.  Edward  Everett  was  opened  to  me,  and  I  was 
favored  with  his  generous  friendship,  which  has  been  among 
the  treasures  of  my  life.  I  came  to  Harvard  College  when 
Dr.  James  Walker  was  president,  a  man  to  whom  my  class 
paid  homage,  whose  memory  I  venerate.  I  recall  his  counsel 
when  I  was  a  student,  and  I  keep  his  sermons  within  reach 
even  now.  It  meant  much  to  look  up  to  him,  to  hear  his 
voice,  to  watch  him  as  he  made  his  way  wearily  across  the 
yard.  The  tutor  of  our  class,  —  you  have  just  heard  his 
voice, —  his  title  has  been  changed,  but  he  is  the  same  man ! 
When  I  came  back  to  Cambridge  we  were  on  another  plane; 
but  I  account  it  one  of  my  rare  privileges  to  know  the  president 
of  the  University.  I  have  walked  behind  him  these  many 
years,  yet  near  enough  to  touch  him.  If  he  remembers  what 
I  have  told  him,  he  knows  my  indebtedness  to  his  influence, 
his  friendship.  It  has  been  a  real  advantage  to  stand  here 
with  such  men  before  me  as  Parker  and  Washburn,  Horsford, 


66 


Fortieth  Anniversary. 


Russell,  and  Asa  Gray;  to  meet  Longfellow  on  the  street  and 
Lowell  in  the  bookstore  and  Agassiz  in  the  car.  Later  days 
have  brought  me  close  to  other  men  of  like  mind.  It  was 
good  to  live  in  the  same  town  with  Dr.  Andrew  Peabody.  I 
knew  Thomas  Scully,  and  I  recall  the  words  and  acts  in  which 
he  expressed  his  friendship.  I  cannot  name  them  all  —  not 
one  of  them  is  forgotten.  I  do  not  forget  at  this  hour  that  for 
my  knowledge  of  these  men  and  for  their  confidence  I  am 
indebted  to  my  place  as  minister  of  this  ancient  church  beside 
the  college.  In  the  many  letters  which  have  come  to  me 
nothing  has  impressed  me  more  than  the  frequent  use  of  a 
word  which  men  do  not  often  use  among  themselves.  Again 
and  again  men  have  told  me  of  their  love.  I  feel  the  meaning 
of  the  witness  of  one  whom  we  all  esteem,  "  It  is  a  great  thing 
to  have  the  love  of  men."  I  have  an  old  letter  that  I  cherish 
which  bears  this  signature, — "Yours  affectionately,  Henry 
Lee."  When  another  friend,  Mr.  Charles  Francis  Adams, 
wrote  of  him  he  spoke  of  Colonel  Lee's  successful  life,  and  then 
denned  his  word, — "  a  successful  life  is  one  which  the  man  would 
like  to  live  over  again."  He  might  have  gone  even  further 
and  said,  a  life  which  a  man's  neighbors  would  like  to  have 
him  live  over  again.  I  am  obliged  to  believe,  on  the  testimony 
of  these  truth-telling  men,  that,  in  a  less  degree,  I  may  comfort 
myself  with  this  assurance.  If  it  be  so,  it  is  the  gift  of  God. 
I  should  be  glad  to  take  up  my  life  again.  I  would  be  born 
in  a  sailor's  home  in  New  Bedford;  I  would  have  a  few  j^ears 
of  a  business  career  among  young  men;  I  would  have  four 
years  in  Harvard  College  under  President  Walker  and  Tutor 
Eliot;  I  would  sit  at  the  feet  of  Park  and  Phelps  and  Shedd; 
I  would  for  five  years  be  the  minister  of  the  church  at  the 
capital  of  Maine;  and  then  I  would  retrace  my  steps  and  come 
here,  and  stay  here  as  I  have  done.  I  cannot  expect  this.  I 
do  remember  it  with  thronging,  grateful  recollections;  and, 
with  a  steadfast  hope,  I  look  on  and  move  on  into  a  future 
which  is  not  altogether  strange.    If  I  may  add  a  last  word,  it 


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67 


shall  be  to  my  friends  who  themselves  are  Christian  ministers. 
I  would  ask  them  to  rejoice  in  their  calling  as  they  go  forth 
to  the  work  which  it  is  given  them  to  do,  —  the  works  which 
He  did  and  the  greater  works.  There  was  never  a  time  when 
an  opportunity  so  grand  was  offered  to  men;  when  so  much 
truth  was  known  and  so  great  demand  for  it  was  made,  and 
there  was  so  much  freedom  in  learning  and  declaring  the 
divine  thought,  and  calling  men  to  the  glad  obedience  of  the 
divine  will.  Oh,  my  brothers,  do  not  sleep  this  night  until 
upon  your  bended  knees  you  have  thanked  our  Redeemer  and 
our  Lord  for  his  goodness  in  choosing  you,  and  appointing 
you,  and  sending  you  out  in  his  name,  at  a  time  like  this. 

I  thank  you  all,  my  dear  people,  and  you  my  friends  who 
gladden  this  sacred  hour.  I  believe  you,  I  believe  in  you. 
What  can  I  say  more  than  the  prayer  of  our  fathers,  God  be 
merciful  unto  us  and  bless  us! 

At  the  conclusion  of  the  above  program  the  guests  to 
whom  cards  had  been  sent  passed  into  the  Mason  Street 
Chapel  and  were  received  informally  by  Dr.  and  Mrs.  McKen- 
zie,  Miss  McKenzie,  and  Prof.  Kenneth  McKenzie;  and  an 
opportunity  was  given  to  inspect  the  Anniversary  Portrait 
of  Dr.  McKenzie,  painted  by  Frank  H.  Tompkins. 


ANNIVERSARY  SERMONS. 


THE  SECOND  SERMON. 

Text  :  That  your  faith  should  not  stand  in  the  wisdom  of  men,  but 
in  the  power  of  God.  —  1  Corinthians  2 : 5. 

Having  spoken  of  the  organization  and  method  of  our 
church  life,  I  am  now  to  speak  more  particularly  of  its  inner 
spirit  and  method. 

I  wish  to  trace  from  their  source  some  of  the  influences 
which  have  entered  into  this  ministry  and  given  it  direction. 
If  I  may  begin  at  the  beginning,  as  it  has  been  my  habit  to  do, 
I  have  to  recognize  the  town  by  the  sea  where  my  life  had  its 
start.  It  was  a  cosmopolitan  place,  for  in  its  ships  it  lived  on 
distant  seas  and  in  foreign  lands.  Strangers  from  remote 
countries  and  islands  were  upon  its  streets,  and  the  mind  of  a 
boy  wandered  at  its  will  and  knew  a  world  larger  than  his 
township,  and  nations  older  than  his  own.  This  might  well 
have  an  effect  which  cannot  be  traced,  and  this  was  more 
evident  in  that  households  were  divided,  and  fathers  were 
separated  from  their  children,  so  that  thought  and  prayer  had 
a  large  compass,  knowledge  was  extended,  and  affection  was 
enhanced  as  it  moved  from  the  mild  waters  of  the  sperm 
whale  to  the  Arctic  homes  of  its  hardier  kindred.  It  was  of 
great  significance  that  in  many  households  the  father  was 
away  for  long  periods, —  two  years,  often  three  years,  or  more, 
—  so  that  the  care  of  the  boys  and  girls  rested  upon  that 
woman  of  whom  I  cannot  trust  myself  to  speak,  the  sailor's 
wife;  alone,  patient,  disciplined;  with  a  judgment  which  did 
not  fail  and  a  courage  which  never  faltered. 

Such  was  the  home  in  which  this  life  was  nurtured.  I  pass 
over  the  inheritance  and  the  early  training,  to  recall  an  hour 

68 


Second  Sermon. 


69 


when  the  young  life  reached  its  great  transition.  Religious 
counsel  was  abundant  in  the  church  and  the  Sunday  school, 
and  had  its  value.  But  it  was  at  its  best  in  the  home,  and  it 
became  effective  when  a  young  man  came  to  be  the  family 
pastor,  who,  in  the  beautiful  simplicity  and  sincerity  of  his 
heart,  reached  out  to  the  boy,  if  he  might  lead  him  into  the 
truth.  Under  the  advice  of  two  women  of  more  than  the 
ordinary  discernment,  he  called  the  boy  to  him  and  gave  in 
simple,  practical  terms  the  counsel  of  an  elder  brother,  and 
from  that  pastor's  house  the  boy  went  to  his  home,  and  into  his 
room,  and  even  as  he  had  been  instructed,  offered  his  heart 
and  life  to  the  divine  Redeemer.  It  was  honest  and  artless, 
and  promptly  the  offering  was  accepted,  and  the  covenant 
was  made.  A  new  purpose  came  to  the  young  life  and  a  new 
song  to  the  lips.  "  Here,  Lord,  I  give  myself  away,  'tis  all 
that  I  can  do,"  received  the  clear  response,  "  My  dear  boy,  it  is 
all  you  have  to  do."  From  that  night  the  boy  never  doubted 
that  Christ  and  he  were  in  an  eternal  friendship,  with  con- 
stancy always  on  Christ's  part;  on  the  other's  part,  inconstant 
hours,  deflections  and  imperfectness,  increasing  need  of  for- 
bearance and  forgiveness;  but  never  has  the  golden  cord 
been  quite  broken  which  binds  the  life  of  the  man  with  the 
covenant  of  the  boy.  With  confidence  in  you  who  hear  me, 
I  am  bold  in  this  confession  which  I  speak,  not  as  a  matter  of 
biography,  but  as  making  the  distinct  initial  point  of  this 
ministry;  and  further  than  that,  because  the  truth  and 
experience  of  that  night  have  virtually  controlled  these  years. 

The  next  period  in  this  preparation  was  mercantile.  I  could 
not  go  from  the  school  to  college  as  I  wished,  but  I  was  taken 
into  one  of  the  large  business  establishments  in  Boston,  where 
I  was  in  connection  with  the  more  active  life,  with  its  demands 
of  accuracy,  promptness,  diligence.  The  conditions  were 
most  favorable  and  the  associations  helpful  in  all  ways.  But 
beyond  that  which  was  done  in  business  hours  was  the  contact 
with  other  young  men,  similarly  placed.    I  learned  their 


70 


Fortieth  Anniversary. 


nature  and  desire,  their  habit  and  taste.  In  the  intimacy  of 
the  free  life  I  came  to  know  them,  and  the  knowledge  has  been 
of  greater  service  than  I  could  then  anticipate.  At  the  same 
time  I  had  my  place  in  the  church  and  my  share  in  its  life,  with 
its  variety.  There  was  a  natural  maturing  which  led  up  to 
the  college  life,  which,  while  delayed,  fell  in  a  fortunate  time. 
Here  I  should  recall  the  decisive  influence  of  another  minister 
and  his  wife,  into  whose  home  I  was  taken  for  the  summer 
months,  by  whom  I  was  persuaded  to  resume  the  hope  of 
earlier  days,  and  to  leave  business  and  study  for  the  ministry. 
That  man  is  unknown  to  you  all,  even  his  name,  but  his  retired 
life  touches  the  life  of  this  church.    Thus  I  came  to  Harvard. 

The  college  was  small  in  comparison  with  its  present  estate, 
and  many  of  its  ways  seem  primitive.  But  it  was  strong  in  its 
purpose  and  in  the  men  who  served  its  interest.  Dr.  James 
Walker  was  president,  and  with  him  were  other  men  of  more 
than  national  fame,  whose  presence  was  itself  an  education. 
It  was  of  advantage  beyond  the  immediate  instruction  to  look 
on  these  men  and  to  receive  of  their  learning  and  life,  while 
others,  members  of  my  own  class,  were  numerous  enough  for 
real  acquaintance  with  men,  and  lifelong  friendships.  I  must 
add  as  a  part  of  the  college  training  the  weekly  hour  in  the 
study  of  the  pastor  of  this  church,  with  whom  a  few  students 
read  the  Greek  Testament  with  the  benefit  of  his  teaching. 
This  led  the  way  to  more  distinctive  theological  instruction 
under  the  great  master  of  that  tune  and  his  associates.  But 
through  the  college  and  seminary  years  the  church  connection 
was  maintained,  with  varied  instruction  which  would  be 
helpful  afterward,  and  with  experience  even  in  churchly  con- 
tention for  which  I  have  had  no  use,  and  with  a  manifold 
practical  discipline  which  presently  extended  into  preaching, 
which  was  certainly  profitable,  at  least  to  the  preacher  himself. 

I  was  thus  brought  to  the  day  of  ordination,  and  to  the 
pastoral  care  of  one  of  the  most  important  churches  in  Maine ; 
of  a  congregation  which  included  a  large  portion  of  the  strong- 


Second  Sermon. 


71 


est  men  of  the  capital  city,  and  which  through  the  legislature 
brought  into  its  fellowship  many  of  the  ablest  and  most  noted 
men  of  the  state,  some  of  whom  were  prominent  in  the  councils 
of  the  nation.  It  was  a  difficult  position  for  a  beginner,  and 
would  have  been  beyond  him  but  for  the  confidence  and 
unfailing  assistance  of  older  and  wiser  men. 

Five  years  in  this  admirable  training  and  practice  brought 
me  back  to  the  old  place ;  to  this  church,  which,  with  all  that 
it  offered  in  itself,  had  an  augmented  claim  and  a  resistless 
attraction  in  that  it  once  more  gave  me  a  home  beside  my  own 
college  and  a  share  in  its  life.  I  did  not  know  all  which  this 
meant,  but  in  my  thoughts  the  church  and  the  college  have 
stood  together  and  have  received  an  undivided  allegiance. 
Like  others  who  have  been  the  ministers  of  this  church,  I  have 
been  permitted  to  serve  both,  and  I  know  that  it  was  of  rare 
advantage  to  me  to  be  in  close  association  for  nearly  thirty 
years  with  the  overseers  of  the  college,  —  men  chosen  for  their 
wisdom,  whose  daily  interests  were  to  a  great  extent  apart  from 
mine,  who  looked  upon  the  world  with  a  vision  of  their  own, 
and  brought  to  the  counsels  of  the  college  learning  and 
ability,  power  of  statement  and  debate,  which  it  was  a  privi- 
lege to  a  minister  to  see  and  feel.  I  count  my  years  with  the 
board  of  overseers  an  excellent  schooling  in  many  qualities 
which  have  been  useful.  There  were  other  unforeseen 
relations  which  were  to  be  established  in  these  familiar  places, 
and  the  position  has  offered  increasing  opportunities  for  service 
which  has  always  been  in  alliance  with  the  established  duties 
of  this  pastorate.  Of  all  this  I  cannot  now  speak  more  par- 
ticularly. You  who  have  shared  and  helped  the  life  know 
what  it  has  been. 

I  think  that  I  have  fulfilled  my  intention  to  trace  some  of  the 
influences  which  have  entered  into  these  years.  There  seems 
to  me  to  have  been  a  prolonged  and  gracious  discipline,  and 
enlarging  preparation,  an  extended  and  various  experience, 
which  have  had  a  constant  control  of  the  earlier  and  later 


72 


Fortieth  Anniversary. 


study  and  thought,  giving  to  the  life  much  of  its  method  and 
temper.  This  I  acknowledge  in  humility  and  thankfulness. 
It  was  not  all  in  my  plan  It  was  not  always  as  I  would  have 
arranged  it;  but  I  like  to  believe  that  a  divine  hand  was 
girding  the  man  for  the  work  to  which  he  was  appointed. 

You  will  allow  me  for  this  time  to  bring  to  the  light  some 
principles  which  cannot  have  been  entirely  concealed  from 
you.  I  go  back  again  to  the  boy's  room  in  a  sailor's  house  for 
the  beginning  of  the  Christian  life  —  not  my  own  merely, 
but  the  life  itself.  In  that  eventful  hour,  and  the  unbroken 
experience  which  has  followed  it,  I  find  the  Christian.  He  is 
simply  one  who  has  joined  his  life  to  the  life  of  Christ.  It  is 
more  than  knowledge  and  more  than  feeling,  though  it  has  a 
measure  of  both.  It  is  devotion;  the  receiving  of  divine 
grace  and  truth  into  an  open  and  ready  mind,  and  the  consent 
and  purpose  to  do  those  things  which  please  Christ.  The  path 
is  not  clearly  seen  in  its  extent,  but  the  boy,  the  man,  enters 
upon  it  in  assurance,  intending  to  walk  in  it  forever.  It  is  all 
personal,  soul  with  soul;  the  spirit  of  man  with  the  spirit  of 
God,  by  whom  Christ  is  made  known  hi  his  grace,  in  his 
persuading  and  attracting  power.  All  is  natural  after  nature, 
in  its  simplicity.  Hope  is  ardent,  joy  is  real.  Shadows  may 
come,  the  path  may  have  hard  places,  but  not  then.  It  is  the 
confidence  of  a  child.  He  believes  Christ  and  believes  in  Him; 
accepts  his  teaching,  relies  on  his  promises,  consents  to  his 
commands.  The  entire  life  is  involved  in  these  few  elements, 
which  may  be  better  understood  as  they  enter  the  maturer 
thought  and  fashion  the  broader  career.  Out  from  this 
beginning  flow  the  principles  of  the  life.  I  think  that  it  has  in 
some  measure  directed  my  study  and  my  preaching  that  I 
came  through  the  life  of  the  outer  world  to  the  study  of  the- 
ology, and  not  merely  through  the  schools  into  the  world. 
Studies  devout  of  necessity  had  reference  to  actual  life  and 
principles  were  tested  by  their  working.  Preaching  might 
easily  have  less  reference  to  systems  of  belief,  and  more  to 


Second  Sermon. 


73 


real  conditions  in  a  veal  world.  I  cannot  trace  this  now,  but 
I  am  confident  of  the  influence. 

It  is  evident  that  this  has  been  a  doctrinal  ministry.  The 
doctrines  are  the  teaching  of  the  New  Testament  and  they 
have  been  learned  in  experience.  The  teaching  has  rested  in 
the  Bible,  whose  trustworthiness  has  been  constantly  asserted. 
The  doctrine  of  God,  our  Father;  of  Christ,  our  Redeemer;  of 
the  man's  birthright  as  the  child  of  God;  of  his  need  of  the 
regenerating  grace  which  is  freely  offered  him;  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  bringing  the  soul  to  the  Saviour,  who  accepts  it  and 
enables  it;  the  doctrine  of  life  and  immortality,  —  these  have 
been  the  spirit  and  the  truth  of  these  years.  They  were 
personal  truths  then,  apprehended  in  an  artless  way;  to  be 
better  known  and  clearly  taught  in  the  process  of  the  years. 

But  this  has  not  been  distinctively  a  theological  ministry- 
It  has  not  labored  overmuch  with  philosophies,  definitions, 
decretals.  It  has  never  left  the  truths  to  ramble  in  their 
suburbs,  in  beautiful  parks  with  artificial  fountains.  Thus 
the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity  has  been  taught  in  New  Testament 
terms,  but  never  critically  analyzed.  The  true  deity  of  the 
Saviour  has  been  taught,  but  the  mysteries  of  the  Godhead 
have  not  been  unfolded.  Redemption  has  been  the  central 
theme,  and  it  has  been  explained  and  illustrated;  but  always 
with  reliance  on  the  words  of  the  gospel  itself;  for  I  have 
believed  and  taught  that  Christ  is  the  Lamb  of  God,  and  that 
He  is  the  Good  Shepherd  giving  his  life  for  his  sheep,  seeking 
and  saving  that  which  was  lost;  and  I  have  seen  as  the  center 
of  heaven  the  throne  of  God  and  the  Lamb. 

Yet  always  I  have  believed  in  theology,  have  studied  it  con- 
stantly, and  have  striven  to  give  it  a  practical  form  for  the 
shaping  of  both  life  and  thought.  I  accept  the  general  and 
enduring  creeds,  with  a  permitted  freedom  in  translation,  hold- 
ing that  the  words  of  men  must  be  subject  to  the  wisdom  of 
men.  Knowledge  ought  to  grow  when  it  is  planted  in  reason 
and  reverence.    I  have  believed  in  all  advanced  study,  in  the 


74 


Fortieth  Anniversary. 


effort  to  know  the  Bible,  the  book  and  its  contents,  its  history 
and  its  meaning.  If  at  any  time  the  attempt  seemed  too  bold, 
it  was  not  to  be  restrained  through  any  fear.  It  would  come 
upon  disaster,  if  it  departed  from  the  verities.  Truth  has  its 
quiet  revenges.  We  have  a  common  interest  in  knowing  what 
is  true,  and  what  is  truth.  It  could  not  be  otherwise  here, 
where  scholars  of  the  highest  and  widest  attainment  have  been 
worshipers.  But  while  many  things  of  interest  have  been 
learned,  nothing  has  come  to  my  watchfulness  which  has  taken 
from  the  sacredness  of  Christ's  teaching,  or  in  any  wise  changed 
the  meaning  of  that  early  and  initial  hour.  After  all  is  writ  ten 
and  said,  I  still  find  myself  there,  and  come  forth  again  to 
repeat  what  then  was  true,  and  which  every  year's  service  has 
confirmed. 

In  a  similar  spirit,  the  effort  has  been  to  establish  ourselves 
in  the  obedience  of  Christ,  rather  than  to  draw  lines  for  men  to 
walk  upon.  Consecration  pledges  obedience,  and  in  Christ  are 
the  guidance,  the  motive,  the  inspiration.  We  are  likened  to 
soldiers.  The  soldier's  life  begins  with  enlistment,  when  he 
comes  under  orders,  and  his  patriotism  is  effective,  and  his 
skirmishing  becomes  orderly,  through  a  supreme  command. 
Every  man's  first  and  immediate  duty  is  enlistment,  devotion; 
then  life  has  its  rule  wherein  is  freedom.  Economics  and 
politics  have  not  been  preached  so  much  as  the  principles 
which  should  govern  them.  I  have  taken  this  course  because 
it  seemed  the  wisest,  and  was  broad  enough  to  demand  all  my 
time  and  force;  because  also  I  was  not  wiser  than  those  who 
heard  me  and  who  would,  as  I  hoped,  do  as  they  pleased.  I  do 
not  claim  that  my  method  has  been  the  most  prudent  and 
efficient.  Other  men,  whose  devotion  I  could  not  surpass, 
have  taken  another  course  and  have  had  wide  influence.  I 
have  at  times  admired  their  facility  in  dealing  with  popular 
themes.  It  is  not  without  design  that  I  have  taken  my  course, 
but  the  pressing  need  of  a  personal  loyalty  to  Christ,  out  of 
which  would  readily  come  good  citizenship,  good  neighborli- 


Second  Sermon. 


75 


ness,  wise  reforms,  and  a  generous  social  science  and  system, 
has  kept  me  to  that  which  was  of  primal  and  intense  impor- 
tance; while  also  I  have  thought  that  men  who  for  six  days 
were  obliged  to  consider  public,  political,  and  social  questions 
needed,  and  would  prize,  the  truths  which  appeal  to  their 
spiritual  nature  and  give  them  a  higher  courage  and  purpose. 
Surely  one  day  in  the  week,  and  one  hour  of  that  day,  could 
not  be  more  than  the  larger  enduring  interests  of  men  re- 
quired. I  could  have  said  with  Robert  Leighton,  that  if 
others  were  preaching  up  to  the  times  one  poor  man  might  be 
allowed  to  preach  up  to  eternity. 

We  have  kept  to  the  old  paths.  We  are  an  ancient  Puritan 
church,  as  we  often  remind  ourselves;  one  of  the  group  of 
churches  which  made  the  colony  and  then  helped  make  the 
nation,  and  we  have  preserved  the  old  simplicity.  We  have 
no  novelties  in  government  or  ritual  and  worship,  small  belief 
in  histrionic  attractions  and  temporary  excitements,  and  great 
confidence  in  permanence.  And  we  have  been  preservative  in 
our  thought  and  way.  Happily,  we  have  never  been  driven 
into  expedients.  It  is  to  be  said  with  gratitude  that  our  sim- 
plicity and  steadiness  appear  to  have  had  favor  and  to  have 
brought  a  liberal  prosperity.  We  seem  to  have  kept  in  the 
line  from  Thomas  Shepard  down. 

It  is  in  keeping  with  all  which  has  been  said  to  make  special 
mention  of  the  importance  which  has  been  attached  to  motive 
and  action.  We  have  believed  that  all  worship  must  be  in 
spirit  and  in  truth;  and  that  purity  of  heart  is  shown  by 
purity  of  life.  We  could  not  overlook  the  persistence  with 
which  the  Lord  insisted  upon  character,  that  is,  obedience. 
This  was  to  be  the  proof  of  love.  The  good  life  was  the  wit- 
ness to  good  opinion  and  intention.  He  made  the  second  of 
the  two  commandments  like  unto  the  first.  It  is  "  not  he  that 
repeateth  the  name,  but  he  that  doeth  the  will"  who  is 
accepted  of  God,  and  this  is  the  rule  for  the  entire  life. 

It  is  to  this  end  that  wisdom  is  promised  and  that  we  are  per- 


76 


Fortieth  Anniversary. 


mitted  and  instructed  to  make  our  requests  known  to  the 
Father  in  heaven,  and  to  bring  into  life  the  inspiration  of 
prayer,  which  is  petition  and  more :  the  communion  of  the  soul 
with  its  Maker,  for  his  pleasure  and  for  our  own  comfort  and 
strength.  Prayer  is  not  an  assistance  merely,  an  adjunct,  an 
occasional  act  of  devotion,  but  a  vital  and  essential  part  of  the 
divine  life  to  which  every  man  is  called.  This  we  have  be- 
lieved, and  we  have  sought  to  open  and  shut  the  closet  door  in 
every  house,  and  to  summon  all  to  the  place  of  common  prayer. 
Upon  prayer  we  have  relied,  and  the  response  in  blessing  has  at 
least  been  equal  to  the  fidelity  in  hearkening  to  the  counsel  of 
Him  who  by  prayer  strengthened  His  soul  for  the  redemption 
of  the  world. 

We  have  regarded  the  church  as  a  household,  a  family;  a 
conception  naturally  suggested  by  the  truth  that  God  is  the 
Father  and  that  we  are  his  children,  and  that  the  Son  of  God 
was  willing  to  call  men  his  friends  and  his  brethren.  We  are 
the  children  of  God,  and  his  heirs  and  joint  heirs  with  Christ. 
He  is  the  Son  of  man.  In  this  spirit  and  under  this  thought  we 
have  lived  "  in  mutual  love  and  respect  each  to  other."  We 
have  meant  to  be  helpers  of  one  another,  sharing  our  burdens 
and  our  blessings.  If  we  have  not  perfectly  attained  to  this, 
it  has  not  been  absent  from  our  thoughts  and  purposes,  and  in 
a  good  degree  it  has  been  realized  in  our  common  life.  It  is  in 
accordance  with  this  intent  that  the  children  of  the  church 
have  been  baptized  and  that  their  names  have  been  placed  in 
the  ancient  records.  We  have  liked  to  regard  our  meetings 
for  prayer  as  the  gathering  for  family  prayers,  after  the  sacred 
custom  of  our  homes;  and  we  have  received  the  sacrament  of 
the  Eucharist,  the  holy  communion,  under  the  simple  name  of 
"  the  Lord's  Supper,"  wherein  his  friends  with  one  accord 
sit  at  his  table.  Nor  have  we  failed  to  remember  those  who 
in  these  centuries  of  our  church  life  have  been  translated;  and 
especially  to  those  whom  we  have  known  and  loved  have  we 
sent  the  greeting  from  the  place  where  they  delighted  to  be 


Second  Sermon. 


77 


with  us.  We  cherish  in  living  confidence  and  delight  "  the 
Communion  of  Saints." 

Yet  our  fellowship  has  not  been  limited  to  those  who  are 
enrolled  with  us  under  the  covenant.  We  have  sought  to 
share  all  that  we  have  with  all  who  come  with  us  to  the  house 
of  the  Lord  and  join  in  his  worship  and  service.  In  this  larger 
fellowship  has  been  a  unity  for  good  works  which  have  been  of 
help  among  our  neighbors,  and  have  reached  over  the  land  and 
upon  the  sea  and  beyond  the  seas.  We  have  carried  the 
world  in  our  sympathies,  "  for  the  sake  of  the  Name." 

We  have  known,  and  more  and  more  have  felt,  the  reality  of 
the  divine  presence.  This  is  the  day  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 
Through  him  we  know  God,  and  by  him  the  spirit  and  love 
and  work  of  the  Son  of  God  are  manifested  to  men.  To  him, 
therefore,  we  look  for  inspiration,  for  instruction  and  guidance, 
for  the  perfecting  of  life.  For  we  believe  in  the  sanctifying  of 
the  redeemed  soul;  the  work  of  grace  begun  here  and  ad- 
vanced here,  and  continued  when  these  limits  are  overpast,  and 
we  live  in  the  freedom  of  the  spirit.  The  highest  promise 
made  to  us  is  in  the  words  of  the  disciple  whom  Jesus  loved, 
"  We  shall  be  like  him,  for  we  shall  see  him  as  he  is."  We 
are  coming  more  deeply  to  feel  that  we  have  kept  it  too 
distant  —  the  influence  of  the  Spirit  of  God  in  our  life,  and 
have  unduly  set  his  bounds.  For  through  his  presence  will 
come  the  ennobling  of  our  own  spirit,  for  our  immediate  good, 
in  the  dominance  of  the  spirit  for  health,  comfort,  gladness, 
power.  This  we  have  always  known,  long  before  it  became  in 
some  measure  a  popular  teaching.  But  the  truth  has  become 
more  forceful,  for  the  enlargement  and  enrichment  of  our 
being.  Under  the  influence  of  the  Spirit  of  God,  spirit  of 
truth  and  life,  we  who  ourselves  are  spirit  shall  ascend  to 
clearer  and  happier  light.  But  in  all  we  shall  be  held  to  Him 
who  is  the  light  of  men,  the  light  of  the  world  and  the  worlds, 
by  whom  life  and  immortality  were  brought  to  light.  Though 
we  know  only  Christ  and  him  crucified,  we  have  in  him  the 


78 


Fortieth  Anniversary. 


beginning  of  all  truth,  for  he  is  the  truth  —  infinite,  perfect, 
all-embracing  and  eternal;  he  is  the  truth.  He  that  followeth 
him  has  the  light  of  life  and  the  life  of  light. 

If,  now,  any  one  should  think  that  a  ministry  thus  denned 
would  be  limited  in  its  range,  he  would  be  right;  yet  so  far 
beyond  us  is  the  boundary  that  we  have  not  reached  it.  If 
one  should  think  the  teaching  of  such  a  ministry  would  involve 
repetition,  line  upon  line,  precept  upon  precept,  he  would  be 
right.  Yet  even  thus  there  has  been,  in  the  mind  of  the 
preacher,  and  it  is  believed  in  the  minds  of  the  hearers,  a 
freshness  and  variety  which  have  kept  it  a  delight  "  to  tell  the 
old,  old  story,"  of  which  they  have  not  wearied.  To  the 
preacher  no  book  is  so  fresh,  so  quick  with  vital  and  interesting 
truths,  as  the  New  Testament,  and  it  must  be  an  increasing 
delight  to  think  and  speak  and  hear  of  Him  whose  name  is 
above  every  name,  whose  love  is  beyond  all  other  love.  It  is 
eternal  life  to  know  God  and  Him  in  whom  God's  love  is 
manifested  before  us  and  within  us. 

One  thing  is  apparent:  that  under  this  system  and  by  these 
principles  we  have  advanced.  The  church  was  never  stronger 
than  to-day;  its  influence  never  more  extended  and  more  deep; 
and  in  gratitude  and  contentment  we  confront  the  years  which 
are  to  come.  There  is  no  disposition  to  depart  from  the  coun- 
sel of  St.  Paul:  "  Whereto  we  have  already  attained,  let  us 
walk  by  the  same  rule,  let  us  mind  the  same  thing."  Not 
as  though  we  "  had  already  attained,  either  were  already 
perfect." 

We  do  well  to  remember  our  history,  for  it  is  one  and  un- 
broken. The  years  which  followed  the  founding  of  this 
church  have  been  among  the  most  eventful  the  world  has 
known.  It  was  an  heroic  beginning,  rich  in  courage  and 
faith.  From  the  colonies,  in  which  Massachusetts  Bay  had  a 
leading  place,  in  due  time  came  this  republic,  midway  of  the 
years  of  our  church  life.  We  can  readily  imagine  the  thoughts, 
the  projects,  the  conversation  of  the  people  who  were  here,  as 


Second  Sermon. 


79 


they  sat  by  their  firesides,  or  walked  along  the  roads.  We 
know  what  they  had  in  mind  in  their  prayers,  and  what,  as 
their  affairs  came  to  the  crisis,  must  have  g'ven  tone  to  their 
life.  The  years  which  have  followed  have  preserved  and 
enlarged  the  republic.  Through  them  the  church  has  lived, 
the  only  institution  whose  life  has  not  been  interrupted  or 
changed.  These  continuous  years  under  the  old  covenant  are 
simple,  but  magnificent.  We  can  run  down  the  annals  and 
set  events  in  their  places.  Our  minds  go  before  us,  but  they 
are  loyal  and  wise  and  grateful.  That  which  has  proved  its 
merit  has  claim  upon  respect  and  confidence.  We  do  not 
originate,  we  continue.  Our  life  is  the  lengthening  of  the  life 
of  our  fathers,  our  duty  is  that  which  they  began.  Their 
purposes  were  large  and  have  had  notable  advance,  but  they 
still  reach  before  us.  Greater  than  their  intent  was  the 
divine  purpose  which  brought  them  to  this  wilderness,  the 
waiting  ground  for  the  new  work  which  they  were  to  do.  Of 
controlling  importance  in  the  minds  of  John  Winthrop  and 
his  associates  stands,  in  their  own  terms,  "  To  carry  the 
Gospell  into  those  parts  of  the  world."  This  they  did,  and  in 
this  intent  they  founded  this  church,  which  has  kept  its  fealty 
to  their  intention.  But  "  those  parts  "  have  been  enlarged 
beyond  any  vis:on  of  theirs.  They  reach  from  this  end  of  the 
earth  to  the  distant  lands  which  return  upon  it.  "  Those 
parts  "  are  to-day  the  whole  globe.  Geography  is  modern, 
and  only  the  latest  map  is  to  be  trusted;  and  swift  ships 
driven  by  winds,  like  their  own,  or  impelled  from  within  unlike 
theirs,  have  brought  remotest  countries  and  peoples  into  con- 
tact. "  Those  parts,"  indeed!  Their  thought  is  our  trust, 
under  these  undreamed  conditions.  It  is  to  our  credit  that, 
though  it  be  late,  we  accept  the  trust,  and  are  beginning  to 
"  carry  the  Gospell  "  into  those  parts  which  the  recent  years 
have  opened  before  us.  Let  us  mark  the  historic  significance 
of  the  enterprise  we  name  missions,  whose  germ  was  in  the 
Puritan  mind. 


80 


Fortieth  Anniversary. 


But  our  work  is  not  all  afar  off.  Even  the  country  to  which 
they  gave  being  reaches  far  beyond  their  visions,  broad  as 
these  became.  We  take  our  place  among  those  who  are  to 
carry  the  "Gospell"  with  its  liberty  and  light,  through  the  land. 
The  nations  meet  upon  our  field.  We  have  inherited  the  duty 
which  was  first  our  fathers'.  Our  best  monument  to  them 
will  be  in  lives  like  theirs.  The  first  word  of  the  Puritan  was 
God.  Like  unto  it  was  the  Puritan  word  man.  They  were 
men  set  to  make  men;  so  are  we.  The  work  is  made  simpler 
by  the  accumulation  of  the  material  within  our  easy  reach. 
Out  of  this  diverse  material  we  are  in  our  turn  to  make  men, 
by  schools,  churches,  industries,  homes;  men  who  shall  con- 
stitute the  state.  We  are  compelled  by  our  own  history,  of 
which  we  boast,  to  extend  the  things  which  have  served  us 
well.  Standing  against  our  past,  I  look  forward  with  entire 
confidence  regarding  our  purpose  and  our  achievement.  We 
are  committed  to  our  duty.  We  are  certainly  moving  in  the 
right  direction.  We  know  our  way.  This  period  of  formation 
and  reformation  is  nearing  its  transition  into  firmer  purposes 
and  manners;  into  stable  convictions  and  permanent  realities 
of  belief  and  conduct.  What  could  be  shaken  has  been 
shaken,  and  the  rest  will  remain.  Our  memories  forbid  our 
fears.  We  cannot  disown  our  history.  The  church  had 
never  more  right  to  be  conscious  of  its  strength.  The  Holy 
Bible  is  ours,  and  is  of  increasing  worth,  the  book  of  religion 
and  of  life.  The  Word  of  God  is  not  bound;  it  is  living  and 
active;  it  abideth  forever.  Truth  is  constant.  Knowledge 
is  wide  and  widening  and  it  must  grow  from  more  to  more. 
We  have  to  teach  the  truth,  if  we  are  true  —  even  as  our 
fathers  sought  to  do,  and  in  their  light  did  to  the  end.  Science 
will  instruct;  philosophy  and  philanthropy  will  illumine. 
Time  and  duty  will  give  their  inspiration.  The  spirit  of  truth 
will  guide  into  larger  truth,  for  the  soul,  the  mind,  the  body  of 
man,  and  of  men  dwelling  together.  Our  crude  attempts  at 
life  will  be  more  accurate  and  efficient.    The  church  which  has 


Second  Sermon. 


81 


not  failed  to  see  this  necessity  will  address  itself  more  dis- 
tinctly to  meeting  it.    If  I  have  rightly  interpreted  this  min- 
istry, these  things  it  has  believed  and  proclaimed.    It  has 
taught  manhood  and  the  humanities.    It  has  sought  to  meet 
men.    It  has  not  cared  overmuch  for  names,  but  it  has 
studied  the  realities.    Action  has  defined  and  illustrated 
principles  and  theories.    Thus  it  has  seldom  spoken  the 
popular  and  useful  and  indefinite  word  "  sociology,"  but  it  has 
taught  the  science  and  practice.    We  have  borne  our  part  in 
numerous  efforts  which  belong  under  this  designation;  in  our 
Christian  associations,  our  associated  charities,  our  homes  for 
the  sick  and  the  old  and  the  orphaned.    One  work  is  peculiarly 
our  own,  where,  under  the  influence  -of  our  young  life  we  have 
taken  our  place  at  the  river  side,  and  have  there  begun  a 
practical  exposition  of  the  science,  and  one  of  increasing 
promise.    In  the  same  spirit  we  are  sending  across  the  land, 
and  out  upon  the  sea.    The  sailor  cannot  be  absent  from  our 
thoughts  while  he  is  indispensable  to  our  designs.  This 
church  came  in  a  ship  and  ships  are  always  in  its  service.  All 
this  work  for  men  will  be  taken  in  deeper  earnest,  as  the  em- 
bodiment of  Christianity  and  the  maintenance  of  our  fathers' 
devotion.    While  we  cherish  our  long  history  we  must  live  up 
to  it.  We  shall.  This  which  I  have  sketched  we  shall  preserve. 
We  are  not  alone.    There  are  many  of  the  like  mind.  Yet 
from  its  age,  its  history,  its  position,  the  church  may  well  stand 
forth  in  its  strength,  a  clear  and  constant  witness  to  the 
Puritan  faith  and  order,  as  these  are  confirmed  and  tempered 
in  the  advance  of  the  centuries.    The  place  is  appointed  for  the 
church.    There  is  certainty  in  the  call;  there  will  be  no  uncer- 
tainty in  the  response.     You  ask  concerning  our  future  on 
whose  confines  we  are.    It  is  one  with  our  past.    It  stands  in 
the  truth  once  for  all  received  and  constantly  proclaimed, —  the 
living  truth  which  rules  our  life.    How  shall  I  better  assert 
it  than  in  the  words  of  our  saintly  scholar  with  whom  we  took 
sweet  counsel?    This  is  our  future,  —  this  truth  embodied 


82 


Fortieth  Anniversary. 


in  our  life,  —  "  the  central  and  all-conquering  truth  of  Chris- 
tianity is  personal  loyalty  to  a  personal  master,  the  crucified, 
risen,  reigning  Christ."  Far  beyond  our  time,  or  our  children's, 
the  church  will  move  toward  the  day  when  the  holy  city  as- 
cending from  the  earth  shall  meet  the  city  coming  down  out  of 
heaven. 

What  remains  for  me  in  this  last  moment  but  to  rejoice  with 
you  in  the  coming  time  which  will  be  ours  and  our  fathers'? 
What  remains  for  me  but  to  bless  God  for  his  goodness,  and  to 
give  you  thanks  and  praise? 

It  is  a  serious  thing  when  the  whole  of  a  man's  life  is  set  in 
one  place.  Greater  than  its  incidents  is  the  inclusive  fact  of  its 
being  where  it  has  been.  It  has  meant  much  that  this  pas- 
torate has  been  prolonged.  But  a  church  in  its  personality 
changes.  The  minister  stands  and  sees  the  coming  and  the 
going.  We  have  been  reasonably  stable,  but  we  cherish 
recollections.  Nearly  my  entire  manhood  has  been  here. 
I  should  like  to  begin  it  again  and  begin  it  here.  Here 
have  I  lived  and  worked.  I  am  grateful  that  He,  in  whose 
hand  my  life  is,  brought  me  here,  back  to  the  old  college,  and 
into  the  ministry  of  this  historic  church.  For  all  the  way  of 
His  leading  I  give  thanks;  for  the  "  beneficial  lines  "  He  has 
drawn  before  me  and  around  me.  I  find  myself  repeating  the 
words  of  the  good  old  hymn : 

"  In  each  event  of  life,  how  clear 
Thy  ruling  hand  I  see! 
Each  blessing  to  my  soul  more  dear 
Because  conferred  by  Thee." 

I  am  grateful  for  my  blessed  home,  and  for  the  house  you 
gave  me  wherein  the  home  is  enshrined.  I  am  grateful  for 
your  homes  where  I  have  had  friendship  and  fellowship.  I 
have  held  your  children  in  my  arms  for  baptism;  I  have  shared 
the  joy  of  your  wedding  days,  and  have  walked  with  you 
through  the  shadows  which  fell  beneath  our  feet,  while  we 


Second  Sermon. 


83 


passed  to  the  portal  the  risen  Christ  left  open  for  our  coming. 
We  have  lived  together,  and  it  is  well!  I  am  not  boasting,  but 
giving  thanks.  Thanks  to  God,  whose  blessings  are  not  the 
less  his  in  that  so  many  have  come  of  your  hands.  These 
days  crown  your  goodness,  and  the  years  are  bright  before  us. 
Non  nobis,  Domine.  Not  unto  us,  but  unto  thee,  0  Lord! 
How  much  it  has  meant!  How  much  it  means!  I  cannot  say 
it  as  I  would.    My  heart  blesses  you. 

In  your  indulgence  I  have  many  times  crossed  the  sea,  but 
I  have  not  cast  loose  from  home.  Whether  in  England  and 
Scotland,  among  the  mountains  of  Norway  and  Sweden,  in  the 
old  cities  of  Russia,  among  the  ranges  of  Switzerland,  on  the 
fields  of  Italy  with  its  history,  or  Greece  with  its  arts,  in  the 
Orient,  on  the  Bosphorus,  in  Damascus,  heavy  with  its  ages,  or 
Baalbec,  impressive  with  its  fallen  temples;  in  Egypt  by 
its  pryamids  and  along  its  river,  among  the  Arabs  and  Berbers 
of  Algeria  and  Morocco,  or  the  past  splendors  of  the  Moors  in 
Spain;  or  in  Palestine,  from  Nazareth  to  Jerusalem,  by  the 
Jordan  and  the  lakes  —  everywhere  my  mind  has  been  con- 
stant in  its  allegiance,  and  I  have  thought  of  this  spot,  and 
prayed  for  the  peace  of  this  city  of  God.  I  have  never  for- 
gotten our  Jerusalem.  Let  us  close  up  and  move  on.  We 
may  at  least  sing  in  the  spirit  of  my  Class  song,  which  we 
shall  in  thinning  ranks  repeat  with  trembling  lips,  "  Heart  to 
heart,  and  hand  to  hand."  Thus  we  move  on,  in  the  light,  up 
the  steeps  of  light,  to  the  new  near  day  which  is  forever,  in  the 
power  of  an  endless  life. 

My  dear  friends,  these  years  such  as  they  have  been,  you 
have  had  the  whole  of  them,  —  now  take  the  rest. 


LETTERS. 


The  Old  Cambridge  Baptist  Church  to  the  First  Church  of 
Cambridge,  Congregational,  Greeting: 

Dear  Brethren  in  Christ,  —  By  a  duly  appointed  committee  named 
below,  and  with  sanction  of  our  whole  body  convened  for  public  wor- 
ship Lord's  day,  January  20,  we  beg  you  to  accept  our  congratulations 
that  in  the  gracious  providence  of  heaven  you  are  enabled  to  celebrate, 
on  January  24,  1907,  the  fortieth  anniversary  of  the  settlement  of 
your  present  minister,  the  Rev.  Alexander  McKenzie,  S.T.D. 

We  felicitate  you  upon  an  event  so  beneficial  and  honorable  to 
pastor  and  flock,  to  preacher  and  hearers,  to  citizens  and  community, 
state  and  country,  throughout  the  wide  extent  of  which  the  man  and 
his  work  have  become  known,  as  also  beyond  the  seas. 

We  rejoice  with  you  in  a  term  of  clerical  office  with  one  parish,  so 
rare  in  these  days,  but  so  consonant  with  the  old  and  creditable  customs 
of  our  Commonwealth,  and  of  our  town,  cradle  of  church,  college,  and 
school. 

When  to  so  noteworthy  an  incumbency,  in  point  merely  of  time,  are 
added  quality  and  variety  of  service  by  your  minister  as  prophet  and 
divine,  historian  and  eloquent  orator,  devoted  shepherd  and  bishop 
of  souls,  you  have  indeed  been,  as  we  also  with  you  in  part,  exalted 
in  privilege,  as  he  abundant  in  labors. 

This  pleasant  opportunity  of  joining  in  the  tributes  to  one  so  beloved 
and  respected  begets  review  of  incidents  and  relations  concerning  our 
churches  here  in  what  was  the  village  of  Old  Cambridge,  and  the 
college  about  which,  at  changing  points,  they  have  clustered,  topics 
such  as  Dr.  McKenzie  has  adorned  with  pen  and  voice. 

Your  house  of  worship  is  now  under  the  Washington  Elm,  and  our 
first  seat,  bought  from  and  resold  to  the  college,  was  by  the  green 
from  which,  a  fortnight  before  Washington  arrived  to  take  command, 
the  Americans  marched  to  Bunker  Hill,  after  prayer  by  President 
Langdon. 

Your  pastor  as  well  as  the  present  president  of  the  university  and 
members  of  our  respective  societies  were  graduated  at  commencements 
held  in  the  First  Parish  Church,  with  its  undying  traditions,  there  and 
on  an  earlier  site,  of  civic  and  sacred  eloquence.    And  far  back  of  these 

84 


Letters. 


85 


associations,  in  the  very  beginning,  are  names  that  are  common 
treasures  for  the  pious  and  learned  annalist  like  your  pastor,  and  for 
his  humblest  fellow-citizen,  if  only  he  be  one  who  can  appreciate  the 
wise  and  good.  For  besides  his  patriotic  researches  and  eulogies,  Dr. 
McKenzie,  a  worthy  successor  of  the  best  of  the  Puritan  clergy,  has 
shown  us  in  his  ecclesiastical  history  of  Middlesex  County,  that  New 
England  as  well  as  Old  had  its  "  Judicious  Hooker,"  and  how  de- 
servedly Shepard  has  been  a  name  and  a  praise  chosen  for  memorial 
by  your  society.  If  our  own  shall  some  day  wear  upon  its  front  as 
well  as  cherish  in  its  heart  that  of  one  who,  like  Dr.  McKenzie,  served 
in  his  day  and  generation  your  church  as  well  as  the  college  —  the 
name  of  Dunster  —  whom  President  Eliot  has  canonized  as  a  saint 
of  Harvard,  whom,  while  his  name  is  a  prized  inscription  upon  your 
roll,  we  also  venerate  as  our  patron  and  spiritual  ancestor,  —  let  such 
action,  together  with  renewed  thanks  at  this  time  for  your  hospitality 
once  and  again  in  the  past,  be  only  an  additional  tie  that  binds  our 
hearts  in  Christian  love. 

Thrice  and  four  times  happy  may  you  and  your  honored  head  yet 
be  in  the  continuance  of  all  precious  memories,  present  blessings,  holy 
motives,  and  inspiring  hopes,  attaching  to  this  long  and  endeared 
pastoral  relation! 

OLD  CAMBRIDGE  BAPTIST  CHURCH, 
by 

Rev.  Woodman  Bradbury,  Minister. 
Nathan  G.  Gooch,  1 
Ray  Greene  Htjling,  S.D.,  J>  °* the 
Jambs  L.  Paine,  j  Deacons. 

James  A.  Wood,  Moderator. 
Prof.  Benjamin  0.  Peirce,  Ph.D. 
Rev.  George  H.  Whittemore,  Chairman. 
Cambridge,  January  20,  1907. 


Telegram. 

New  York,  January  23,  1907. 

Frank  Gaylord  Cook: 

Deeply  regret  important  unexpected  duties  prevent  presence  at  Dr. 
McKenzie's  fortieth  anniversary  to-morrow.  Please  extend  him  my 
cordial  good  wishes  and  congratulations. 

(Signed)    Robert  C.  Ogden. 


86 


Fortieth  Anniversary. 


January  26,  1907- 

Rev.  Alexander  McKenzie,  D.D. 

My  dear  old  Friend,  —  I  declined  other  engagements  in  order  to  be 
with  you  last  Thursday  and  was  not  well  enough  to  come  after  all, 
so  enduring  is  the  effect  of  grippe  in  these  days!  But  I  will  not  let 
the  occasion  pass  without  a  word  of  affectionate  sympathy  and  remem- 
brance; for  I  remember  you  when  you  were  passing  your  entrance 
examinations  in  1855,  and  we  all  were  young.  You  were  one  of  the 
old  friends  whose  neighborhood  drew  me  home  to  Cambridge  sixteen 
years  ago  to  live  among  the  old  companions  of  our  youth  while  the 
closing  days  draw  nigh.  You  have  done  a  good  work  for  many  more 
than  you  know,  and  I  owe  you  much  more  than  you  ever  imagined,  I 
presume.  And  I  want  to  say,  among  the  crowd  which  has  gathered 
in  kindliness  about  you  at  this  time,  I  too  claim  a  place,  and  wish  to 
do  you  honor  and  say  for  myself  a  special  word  of  good-will  after  more 
than  forty  years  of  respect  and  friendship. 

Ever  yours, 

(Signed)    Edwin  H.  Abbot. 

Wadsworth  House,  Cambridge, 
January  5,  1907. 

My  dear  Mr.  Cook,  —  I  regret  that  the  fortieth  anniversary  of  the 
installation  of  Dr.  McKenzie  does  not  take  place  ten  days  earlier,  when 
I  should  be  in  Cambridge.  On  the  24th  of  January  I  shall  have 
returned  to  New  York  and  my  engagements  there  will  prevent  my 
giving  myself  the  pleasure  of  attending  the  anniversary  exercises.  I 
should  like,  however,  through  you  to  extend  my  congratulations,  both 
to  the  church  and  to  my  friend,  Dr.  McKenzie,  on  his  long,  useful, 
and  honored  pastorate. 

Yours  sincerely, 

(Signed)    Lyman  Abbott. 

Smith  College,  Northampton,  Mass., 
January  5,  1907. 

Mr.  Frank  Gaylord  Cook  : 

Dear  Mr.  Cook,  —  I  greatly  regret,  in  consequence  of  prior  engage- 
ments, that  I  shall  be  unable  to  accept  the  invitation  to  attend  the 
public  exercises  in  celebration  of  the  fortieth  anniversary  of  the  in- 


Letters. 


87 


stallation  of  Dr.  McKenzic,  but  I  would  congratulate  the  church  most 
heartily  on  that  occasion. 

He  has  been  not  only  a  power  for  good  in  Cambridge,  but  throughout 
the  land,  and  we  are  all  grateful  for  the  Christian  influence  which  he 
has  exerted  during  his  unusually  long  and  successful  ministry. 

Cordially  yours, 

(Signed)    L.  Clark  Seelte. 

Court  House,  Boston,  January  19,  1907. 
My  dear  Dr.  M cKenzie,  —  I  regret  that  I  shall  be  unable  to  attend 
the  celebration  of  the  fortieth  anniversary  of  your  installation  at 
Cambridge,  to  which  I  have  been  kindly  invited.  There  is  no  one  to 
whom  I  would  more  gladly  do  honor  than  to  you,  and  no  one  whose 
abilities,  public  services,  and  long  continued  devotion  to  a  noble  work 
challenge  admiration  and  love  in  greater  degree  than  you.  I  must 
instead  content  myself  with  sending  you  this  slight  expression  of  my 
warm  affection,  and  my  heartiest  congratulations  and  good-will. 

Sincerely  yours, 

(Signed)    Robert  R.  Bishop. 

Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  January  7,  1907. 

My  dear  Dr.  McKenzie,  —  I  am  unable  to  be  present  at  your  fortieth 
anniversary  of  installation,  but  I  hasten  to  assure  you  that  Central 
Church  and  its  pastor  are  rejoicing  in  all  that  God  has  permitted  you 
to  be  and  to  do  during  those  fruitful  and  honored  years.  No  period 
of  ministerial  service  in  America  has  been  more  sustained  in  true  re- 
sults, more  exemplary  in  the  qualities  pertaining  to  your  great  office, 
and  more  rich  in  inspiration  for  your  fellow-presbyters  in  the  gospel  of 
our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

Now  as  the  shadows  lengthen  and  there  are  spicy  gales  blowing 
from  the  blessed  shores  where  we,  even  the  youngest,  shall  soon  make 
a  landing,  you  go  into  the  eventide  encompassed  by  our  love  and 
followed  by  our  prayers.  May  that  eventide  be  mellow  and  nothing 
hasten  to  disturb  it ! 

Yours  affectionately, 

(Signed)    S.  Parkes  Cadman, 
Pastor  of  the  Central  Congregational  Church,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 


88 


Fortieth  Anniversary. 


Boston,  Mass.,  January  24,  1907. 

My  dear  Dr.  McKenzie,  —  I  am  hoping  to  be  at  your  church  this 
evening  and  bring  personally  my  greetings.  But  besides  this,  I  want 
to  tell  you  what  an  inspiration  and  help  you  have  been  to  me.  Begin- 
ning away  back  in  the  old  vestry  in  Winter  Street  Church  when  you 
first  began  to  study  for  the  ministry,  you  commenced  to  mold  my 
life  for  good  and  you  have  been  doing  it  ever  since.  Some  of  the 
things  you  said  years  ago  I  have  used  to  help  others.  It  is  a  glorious 
record  of  service  for  the  Master  in  which  you  may  greatly  rejoice,  for 
you  have  been  a  blessing  to  thousands.  May  you  continue  to  lead  us 
many  years  to  higher  and  better  things. 

With  warm  regards,  I  am, 

Sincerely  yours, 

(Signed)    Samuel  B.  Capex. 

Boston,  Mass.,  January  14,  1907. 
My  dear  Dr.  McKenzie,  —  Please  allow  me  to  add  my  hearty  con- 
gratulations to  those  of  the  multitudes  of  your  friends  all  over  the 
country  and  in  other  lands  as  well,  on  the  notable  anniversary  of  your 
pastorate,  which  is  so  near.  It  seems  to  me  that  it  has  had  few,  if 
any,  parallels  in  the  history  of  our  country.  Though  there  have  been 
other  pastorates  as  long,  no  others  have  been  in  such  an  important 
university  pulpit,  to  my  knowledge,  and  during  such  decades  of  prog- 
ress and  mental  unrest.  I  feel  that  your  work  has  been  of  immense 
value  to  a  very  wide  circle  and  that  the  young  people  in  whom  I  am 
particularly  interested  have  profited  not  the  least  by  your  words  on 
the  platform  and  in  the  pulpit  and  by  your  published  articles  and 
addresses. 

I  hope  that  you  will  round  out  full  fifty  years  in  the  same  pulpit, 
and  that  the  richest  blessing  of  heaven  may  always  be  yours. 

Faithfully  your  friend, 

(Signed)    Francis  E.  Clark. 

New  York,  January  21,  1907. 

Frank  Gaylord  Cook,  Esq. 

Dear  Sir,  —  I  beg  you  to  accept  my  thanks  for  your  kindness  in 
sending  me  an  invitation  to  attend  the  celebration  of  the  fortieth 
anniversary  of  the  installation  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  McKenzie.  It  would 
give  me  great  pleasure  to  be  present,  if  circumstances  did  not  make 


Letters. 


89 


this  impossible.  In  common  with  the  great  number  of  his  friends 
and  with  the  Christian  public  generally,  I  rejoice  in  Dr.  McKenzie's 
long  and  distinguished  ministry.  He  has  had  a  much  larger  parish 
than  that  which  is  around  him  in  Cambridge,  and  his  stimulating  words 
and  example  have  been  of  great  help  to  a  host  of  other  ministers.  It 
is  a  cause  of  rejoicing  that  he  is  able  still  to  continue  his  work,  and  I 
join  with  you  in  the  hope  that  he  may  minister  to  you,  and  to  those 
also  who  have  not  the  pleasure  of  hearing  his  voice,  for  many  years 
to  come. 

Begging  the  privilege  of  expressing  to  him  through  you  my  sincerest 
regards  and  congratulations,  I  am,  with  great  respect, 

Yours  very  truly, 

(Signed)    Edward  B.  Coe. 

New  York,  January  23,  1907. 

Dear  Dr.  McKenzie,  —  Mr.  Ogden  and  I  were  both  hoping  to  run 
on  to  Cambridge  to  express  by  word  of  mouth  our  congratulations  on 
your  fortieth  anniversary.  I  do  not  know  another  man  that  has  had 
a  ministry  of  forty  years  that  has  meant  as  much  as  yours.  I  want  to 
express  the  feeling  of  gratitude  which  we  all  have  toward  you  at 
Hampton,  not  only  for  the  inspiration  and  help  that  has  come  from 
your  presence  and  words  there  but  because  of  the  loyal  support  that 
you  have  given  the  school  through  all  the  years. 

It  is  a  cause  of  deep  regret  that  an  important  engagement  here  seems 
to  make  my  stay  here  essential.  I  am  pressing  upon  Mr.  Ogden,  whose 
southern  trips  have  made  the  date  of  anniversary  uncertain,  the 
importance  of  deciding,  so  that  we  may  on  no  account  be  deprived  of 
the  pleasure  of  having  you  with  us  in  the  spring. 

Cordially  yours, 

H.  B.  Frissell. 
Columbus,  Ohio,  January  7,  1907. 

Mr.  Frank  Gaylord  Cook: 

Dear  Sir,  —  I  greatly  regret  that  it  will  be  impossible  for  me  to 
attend  the  exercises  in  celebration  of  Dr.  McKenzie's  fortieth  anni- 
versary. I  shall  be  one  of  many  thousands  who  will  give  thanks  to 
God  for  his  long  and  fruitful  ministry,  and  who  will  pray  that  his  last 
days  may  be  his  best. 

Yours  faithfully, 

(Signed)    Washington  Gladden. 


90 


Fortieth  Anniversary. 


New  York,  January  15,  1907. 
Dear  Air.  McKcnzie,  —  I  was  so  very  sorry  not  to  be  able  to  come 
to  see  you  in  Boston,  but  3rou  will  understand  tbat  good  Miss  White 
made  my  engagements,  and  I  was  unable  to  keep  up  with  them,  they 
were  so  many.  I  hear  that  you  are  to  celebrate  the  fortieth  anniver- 
sary of  your  pastorship.  I  remember  with  very  great  profit  your 
brief  visit  to  Battle  Harbour.  If  it  has  pleased  God  to  bless  you  in 
proportion  to  the  many  others  that  you  have  been  working  for  during 
all  these  years,  then  indeed  you  must  have  a  joy  that  cannot  pass 
away  after  service  of  four  decades.  Please  accept  my  very  affectionate 
regards,  and  believe  me  ever  to  remain, 

Your  affectionate  friend, 

(Signed)    W.  T.  Grenfell. 

S.  S.  "  Korea,"  April  10,  1907. 

Mr.  Frank  Gavlord  Cook: 

My  dear  Sir,  —  While  in  Japan,  an  invitation  reached  me  to  attend 
the  public  exercises  in  celebration  of  the  fortieth  anniversary  of  the 
installation  of  the  Rev.  Alexander  McKenzie,  D.D.  It  is  with  great 
regret  that  I  have  found  it  impossible  to  accept  this  invitation,  and 
at  this  late  date,  to  the  committee  my  keen  appreciation  of  its  courtesy 
in  inviting  me  and  my  delight  in  thinking  of  all  the  occasion  implied 
from  every  point  of  view.  Dr.  McKenzie  I  have  honored  and  loved 
for  many  years.  Some  years  ago  it  was  my  privilege  to  preach  on  two 
successive  Sundays  in  his  church,  and  I  have  never  lost,  and  never  shall 
lose,  the  sense  of  privilege  and  blessing  that  came  to  me  in  connection 
with  those  services.  I  rejoice  with  you  and  your  associates  in  the 
treasure  which  you  possess  in  your  church  and  society;  and  I  hope 
that  even  greater  usefulness  and  blessings  are  to  abide  there  in  the 
days  to  come. 

I  have  the  honor  to  remain,  dear  sir, 

Very  gratefully  yours, 

(Signed)    C.  Cuthbert  Hall. 

Buffalo,  N.  Y.,  January  7,  1907. 

Mr.  Frank  Gaylord  Cook: 

Dear  Sir,  —  With  deep  regret  I  am  compelled  by  circumstances  to 
forego  the  pleasure  of  accepting  your  invitation  for  the  24th  of  January. 
Dr.  McKenzie  will  appreciate  how  much  it  costs  me  to  decline  it.  He 
is  one  of  my  most  cherished  friends.    We  have  been  friends  for  nearly 


Letters. 


91 


fifty  years.  During  all  that  time  I  have  watched  his  brilliant  career, 
and  every  year  my  admiration  of  his  great  abilities  and  my  affection 
for  himself  and  my  gratitude  to  God  for  the  way  he  has  used  his  power 
have  grown  greater. 

All  men  appreciate  his  genius.  Only  those  who  know  him  well  can 
adequately  appreciate  his  character.  For  great  as  is  his  brain,  his 
heart  is  greater.    With  sincere  regards, 

Your  respectful  servant, 

(Signed)    Wm.  B.  Wright. 

Buffalo,  N.  Y.,  January  7,  1907. 

Deai-  Dr.  McKenzie,  —  Even  you  can  scarcely  appreciate  how  much 
it  has  cost  me  to  write  Mr.  Cook  the  note  I  have  just  penned  declining 
the  invitation  to  be  with  you  on  the  24th  of  January,  for  you  cannot 
know  how  much  I  admire  and  love  you.  For  nearly  fifty  years  I  have 
known  you  and  every  year  has  made  me  long  to  know  you  better.  In 
my  judgment  you  have  taken  rank  among  the  half  dozen  foremost 
preachers  in  America,  second  to  none  in  the  six.  I  have  never  said 
that  to  you,  but  I  have  said  it  of  you  to  many.  Your  charge  to 
Murray's  people,  with  that  golden  sentence  that  has  been  a  Star  of 
Bethlehem  to  me  ever  since  I  heard  it,  "  Simon  of  Cyrene  carries  the 
cross  more  easily  than  Jesus  of  Nazareth,"  fixed  my  expectation  of 
what  has  since  come  from  you.  That  foreign  missionary  address  you 
gave  at  Lowell  so  long  ago  was  the  greatest,  and  by  far  the  greatest, 
in  that  line  I  have  ever  heard  or  read.  I  can  almost  repeat  it  to-day. 
Though  I  have  not  been  able  to  hear  you  often,  I  have  never  lost  an 
opportunity  to  do  so,  and  I  never  heard  you  speak  without  delight  and 
a  mental  "  Thank  God  for  such  a  man." 

But  my  admiration  for  yourself  has  been  greater  than  for  your 
genius.  You  have  received,  not  flattery,  for  flattery  means  undeserved 
praise,  but  such  recognition  of  your  God-given  powers  as  might  well 
have  spoiled  most  men,  without  the  least  taint  of  vanity  or  presump- 
tion; but  have  laid  every  crown  you  earned  at  the  Master's  feet.  For 
this  most  of  all  I  love  you  and  thank  God  for  you  and  count  it  one  of 
the  chief  blessings  of  my  life  that  you  rank  me  among  your  friends. 

Be  sure  to  send  me  everything  you  can  that  occurs  on  the  24th,  for 
everything  that  concerns  you  is  always  and  will  be  of  prime  importance 
in  my  eyes. 

With  all  the  love  of  all  the  years, 

Yours, 

(Signed)    Wm.  B.  Wright. 


92 


Fortieth  Anniversary. 


New  York,  January  5,  1907. 
Mr.  Frank  Gatlord  Cook,  Cambridge,  Mass. 

M y  dear  Sir,  —  It  is  a  distinguished  occasion  to  which  you  invite 
me  at  the  fortieth  anniversary  of  the  installation  of  Dr.  McKenzie. 
His  career  and  record  have  been  unusually  notable.  It  is  not  simply 
that  he  has  remained  for  forty  years  as  pastor  of  the  First  Church  in 
Cambridge,  but  also  that  his  interest  and  influence  in  matters  of  educa- 
tion and  public  affairs,  as  well  as  in  the  church,  have  been  known  of 
all  men. 

I  wish  very  much  I  could  be  present  among  those  to  do  him  honor, 
but  it  will  not  be  possible.  As  I  am  myself  on  the  fortieth  year  of 
my  service  where  I  now  am,  I  feel  a  special  sentiment  for  this  reason. 

I  trust  that  he  may  for  not  a  few  years  to  come  remain  in  active 
connection  with  the  First  Church  of  Cambridge. 

Very  truly  yours, 

(Signed)    Wm.  H.  Ward. 
New  York,  January  6,  1907. 

Mr.  Frank  Gatlord  Cook: 

Dear  Sir,  —  Permit  me  to  express  my  thanks  for  the  invitation  to 
the  anniversary  exercises  on  the  24th. 

There  is'  no  man  in  the  American  church  to  whom  we  would  render 
more  honor  than  to  Dr.  McKenzie,  and  it  is  with  great  regret  that  I 
find  myself  unable  to  be  in  Cambridge  at  that  time. 

Very  sincerely  yours, 

(Signed)    Wm.  R.  Richards. 

t 

New  York,  February  3,  1907. 

Dear  Dr.  McKenzie,  —  Some  kind  friend  sent  me  an  invitation  to  the 
exercises  at  your  recent  anniversary,  an  invitation  which  I  should  have 
loved  dearly  to  accept.  I  hope  it  is  not  too  late  to  say  how  deeply 
interested  I  have  been  in  such  accounts  as  have  reached  me.  You 
come  in  among  my  very  earliest  memories  as  we  used  to  have  the 
privilege  of  welcoming  you  at  our  house  on  Sunday  evenings,  and  it 
has  been  a  joy  and  pride  to  us  all  to  know  of  j-our  great  ministry  in 
that  most  influential  pulpit  and  parish. 

The  recent  death  of  my  mother  has  made  those  early  recollections 
more  sacred  to  me,  as  it  has  also  made  the  Christian  hope  more  sure. 


Letters. 


93 


I  suspect  that  you  have  been  overwhelmed  with  messages  from  all 
quarters,  but  I  know  that  you  will  let  me  claim  this  small  part  in  the 
chorus  of  gratitude  and  congratulation. 

Sincerely  yours, 

(Signed)    Wm.  R.  Richards. 

Cambridge,  Mass.,  January  5,  1907. 

My  dear  Mr.  Cook,  —  I  am  very  sorry  to  find  that  I  must  be  absent 
from  Cambridge  at  the  time  of  Dr.  McKenzie's  fortieth  anniversary. 
I  have  promised  to  be  in  Pittsburgh  at  the  celebration  of  the  twenty- 
fifth  anniversary  of  Bishop  Whitehead. 

I  would  like  to  express  through  you  to  Dr.  McKenzie  my  deep 
appreciation  of  all  that  his  influence  means  to  this  community.  He 
has  shown  the  great  advantage  which  comes  to  the  church  by  the  long 
continuance  of  a  good  man  in  one  place.  The  circle  of  influence  widens 
year  by  year.  Dr.  McKenzie  has  made  himself  a  part  of  our  whole 
Cambridge  life,  and  it  is  better  in  every  way  because  of  his  residence 
amongst  us.  He  has  the  regard  and  reverence  and  affection  of  all  his 
neighbors. 

Always  faithfully  yours, 

(Signed)    George  Hodges. 

New  Bedford,  Mass.,  January  22,  1907. 
Dear  Dr.  McKenzie,  —  Let  me  add  my  little  word  of  affection  and 
esteem  to  the  many  which  I  know  have  been  coming  to  you  on  this 
glad  anniversary.  I  feel  that  no  general  word  can  mean  as  much  to 
you,  from  me,  as  my  frank  and  sincere  statement  of  the  personal  in- 
spiration and  help  which  have  come  to  me  from  your  words  with  your 
own  true  self  within  them.    I  thank  you. 

Your  friend, 

(Signed)    M.  C.  Julien. 

New  Bedford,  Mass.,  February  9,  1907. 
Dear  Dr.  McKenzie,  —  Now  that  the  public  exercises  of  the  anni- 
versary have  come  to  a  close,  I  thought  it  might  interest  you  to  know 
how  it  was  appreciated  by  the  people  of  the  Trinitarian  Church  here 
in  New  Bedford.  Last  Wednesday  night  one  of  the  delegates  sent  to 
represent  the  church  made  his  report  of  the  anniversary.    The  dele- 


94 


Fortieth  Anniversary. 


gate  was  Mr.  James  C.  Briggs,  whose  whole  ancestry  and  life  experi- 
ences have  turned  him  into  salt  —  not  like  Lot's  wife,  for  his  salt  has 
not  left  its  savour,  and  his  "  looking  back  "  is  surely  in  line  with  the 
Divine  favor.  His  report  was  not  the  haphazard  extemporaneous 
talk  of  a  layman,  but  he  had  carefully  taken  notes,  and  wrote  up  his 
impressions  that  same  night  in  his  room  in  a  Boston  hotel,  and  com- 
pleted the  written  report  the  next  morning  —  save  for  corrections  of 
matters  of  fact  gathered  from  the  published  reports.  It  was  most  en- 
thusiastically and  yet  discriminatingly  done.  The  people  listened  with 
that  earnestness  which  showed  the  genuineness  of  their  interest,  not 
only  in  the  report  but  in  the  subject.  As  one  of  the  most  intelligent 
and  best  educated  of  the  church  said  to  me,  —  a  man  over  eighty  years 
of  age  but  of  wide  experience  as  a  teacher  and  exceptionally  clear- 
headed, —  "  That  was  the  best  report,  without  exception,  that  I  ever 
heard  given  of  such  an  occasion."  And  if  you  will  permit  me  to  add, 
what  I  am  afraid  may  read  like  a  bit  of  gossip,  I  was  told  by  one  who 
was  present  that  while  the  addresses  were  all  very  interesting  and 
impressive,  "  the  crown  of  it  all  was  Dr.  McKenzie's  closing  speech." 
The  hearts  of  the  people  here  are  with  you  after  the  anniversary  just 
as  fully  as  ever.    With  kindest  regards, 

Yours, 

(Signed)    M.  C.  Julien. 

Stockbridge,  Mass.,  January  21,  1907. 

My  dear  Dr.  McKenzie,  —  May  send  a  line  of  congratulation  among 
the  many  that  will  reach  you,  and  express  the  hope  that  for  many 
years  more  you  may  prolong  3rour  useful  and  honored  work.  I  have 
been  but  thirty-five  years  in  my  parish,  and  consider  myself,  compared 
with  you,  a  novice.  But  I  know  something  of  the  satisfaction  of  a 
long  pastorate.  What  pleasure  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Samuel  Lawrence,  were 
they  still  here,  would  take  in  your  anniversary ! 

Believe  me,  dear  sir, 

Very  faithfully  yours, 

(Signed)    Arthur  Lawrence. 

Boston,  Mass.,  January  6,  1907. 
My  dear  Neighbor  M cKenzie,  —  I  am  so  sorry  that  absence  in  Wash- 
ington will  prevent  me  from  being  present  at  your  fortieth  anniversary. 
I  must,  however,  send  you  my  congratulations  upon  a  good  work  well 
done.    To  have  ministered  for  forty  years  to  the  people  of  Cambridge, 


Letters. 


95 


to  Harvard  officers  and  students,  to  have  done  what  you  have  as  a 
citizen,  to  have  led  many  souls  to  righteousness  in  colleges  and  cities 
throughout  the  land,  is  a  privilege  indeed.  As  one  contemplates  the 
contrast  of  your  life  as  it  might  have  been  in  Uncle  Sam  Lawrence's 
office  and  as  it  now  has  been,  one  realizes  the  great  opportunities  of 
the  ministry.  You  rejoice  in  the  affection  of  a  grateful  people  and 
the  regard  of  all  who  know  you.  May  God  give  you  happiness  and 
serenity  in  your  declining  years. 

Yours  sincerely, 

(Signed)    William  Lawrence. 

Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  January  9,  1907. 

My  dear  Dr.  McKenzie,  —  I  have  had  the  honor  to  receive  an  invita- 
tion to  be  present  at  the  public  exercises  in  celebration  of  your  fortieth 
anniversary  as  pastor  of  the  First  Church,  to  take  place  on  Thursday, 
January  24.  It  would  be  a  great  and  special  pleasure  to  me  to  be 
present  in  person  upon  that  occasion,  but  I  am  under  engagement  to 
attend  an  American  Board  Conference  that  week  in  Chicago. 

May  I  not,  therefore,  in  this  informal  fashion,  but  with  all  my 
heart,  count  myself  one  among  the  great  throng  whose  loving  jubila- 
tion will  gather  about  you  on  that  glad  day,  signal  and  splendid  as 
it  is  in  its  commemoration  of  a  ministry  so  long,  so  rich,  so  rare  in 
the  constant  beauty  of  its  inspiring  power. 

You  have  made  two  generations  of  our  ministers  your  debtors. 
Every  "  man-Jack  "  of  us  glories  in  the  unique  distinction  of  your 
genius  and  your  work. 

May  heaven  grant  that  you  may  yet  long  be  spared,  that  some 
immortal  white  heather  from  your  ancestral  Scottish  "  braes  "  may 
find  itself  always  fresh  in  your  hands,  and  that  still  another  decade 
may  be  added  to  the  mellowing  and  golden  fullness  of  your  pastorate 
in  Cambridge. 

Most  faithfully  yours, 

(Signed)    Albert  J.  Lyman. 

Hartford,  Conn.,  January  5,  1907. 

Rev.  Alexander  McKenzie  : 

My  dear  Dr.  McKenzie,  —  I  regret  that  I  have  been  compelled,  by 
an  important  engagement  in  New  York  on  January  24,  to  write  stating 
my  inability  to  attend  the  public  exercises  which  are  to  be  held  on  that 


96 


Fortieth  Anniversary. 


day  in  your  church.  It  would  have  been  a  great  personal  satisfaction 
to  me  to  be  able  to  attend.  Surely  you  must  look  back  with  immense 
delight  and  profound  thankfulness  to  a  ministry  such  as  you  have 
had.  I  trust  that  out  of  this  celebration  there  may  come  to  many 
young  men  the  call  to  give  themselves  to  a  life  work  capable  of  such 
noble  fruition.  Will  you  please  convey  my  kindest  regards  to  Mrs. 
McKenzie  and  your  daughter,  whom  it  will  be  a  great  pleasure  to  meet 
at  some  date  in  the  future. 
With  warm  regards, 

Yours  sincerely, 

(Signed)    W.  Douglas  Mackenzie. 

Hartford,  Conn.,  January  5,  1907. 

Mr.  Frank  Gaylord  Cook: 

My  dear  Sir,  —  It  is  with  much  regret  that  I  find  myself  prevented 
by  an  important  engagement  in  New  York  from  attending  the  cele- 
bration of  the  fortieth  anniversary  of  the  installation  of  the  Eev. 
Alexander  McKenzie,  D.D.,  as  pastor  of  the  First  Church  in  Cambridge. 
It  would  have  given  me  the  utmost  pleasure  to  attend  and  so  to  ex- 
press my  regard  for  Dr.  McKenzie  himself  and  admiration  for  the 
ministry  exercised  for  so  long  with  such  brilliant  power  in  a  position 
which  few  men  could  sustain. 

With  regards, 

Yours  faithfully, 

(Signed)    W.  Douglas  Mackenzie. 

Boston,  Mass.,  January  8,  1907. 

My  dear  Mr.  Cook,  —  I  am  sorry  that  an  engagement  will  keep  me 
away  from  the  public  exercises  in  celebration  of  the  fortieth  anniversary 
of  the  installation  of  Rev.  Alexander  McKenzie,  D.D.,  Thursday 
evening,  the  24th  of  January. 

It  would  be  a  great  pleasure  to  attend  this  celebration,  and  to  offer 
my  sincere  congratulations  to  Dr.  McKenzie.  He  has  had  a  remark- 
able ministry,  and  still  holds  his  place  with  such  power  that  his  friends 
are  all  astonished  at  his  endurance.  Let  me  join  with  a  large  com- 
pany of  friends  in  extending  to  Dr.  McKenzie  sincere  felicitations  upon 
his  successful  ministry  in  Cambridge. 

Sincerely  yours, 

(Signed)    W.  E.  Huntington. 


Letters. 


97 


Andover,  Mass.,  January  25,  1907. 
Dear  Dr.  McKcnzie,  —  I  felt  grateful  for  the  privilege  of  attending 
the  exercises  at  the  Shepard  Church  last  evening.  In  view  of  the 
extreme  severity  of  the  weather  I  thought  it  prudent  not  to  stay  so 
late  as  to  be  obliged  to  reach  home  after  midnight.  Hence  to  my 
keen  regret  I  was  obliged  to  lose  all  the  public  exercises  after  Dr. 
Thomas's  address,  and  the  reception.  May  I  now  add  my  congratu- 
lations on  the  anniversary  and  the  admirable  exercises  which  honored 
it  so  fitly.  I  am  the  only  member  of  our  faculty  who  was  here  when 
it  was  attacked  in  1886.  Let  me  say  that  I  never  can  forget  the  brave 
and  generous  attitude  you  maintained  during  that  trying  time. 
There  came  to  my  recollection  more  words  of  warm  sympathy  for 
Dr.  Smyth  which  you  spoke  on  the  platform  of  the  American  Board, 
after  he  had  been  removed  from  his  place  in  its  prudential  committee. 
How  heartily  would  he  have  expressed  his  gratitude  for  them,  and 
his  gladness  in  your  happy  anniversary,  if  he  were  here!  I  believe 
that  one  of  your  strongest  claims  in  the  gratitude  of  the  churches  is 
the  stand  which  you  took  at  that  time  for  freedom  and  justice. 

Very  truly  yours, 

(Signed)    Edward  Y.  Hincks. 

Wellesley  College,  February  6,  1907. 

My  dear  Dr.  McKenzie,  —  After  dinner  this  evening,  we  all  went 
into  Miss  Dennison's  sitting-room,  and  there  I  saw,  occupying  an 
honored  position,  a  fine  likeness  of  yourself  which  came  from  the 
Congregationalist.  As  we  stood  around  the  picture,  a  group  of  your 
Wellesley  friends  of  many  years,  I  resolved  to  write  to  you  —  and 
to  write  with  my  own  hand! 

At  the  time  of  your  anniversary  honors,  I  was  not  in  Wellesley. 
The  Christmas  season  is  a  busy  time  in  my  office  and  I  usually  take 
my  vacation  rather  later,  after  the  others  have  returned.  Thus  I  was 
not  one  of  those  who  were  of  the  great  number  that  assembled  in  your 
honor  and  I  had  not  the  pleasure  of  hearing  your  address  which,  as  I 
read  it,  justifies  all  the  praise  which  I  have  heard  from  those  present. 
A  Cambridge  paper  addressed  to  the  college  and  sent  perhaps  through 
your  thoughtful  kindness,  reached  my  desk  and  was  full  of  interesting 
matter  in  connection  with  the  day.  The  Manager  of  College  News 
took  much  pleasure  in  making  an  abstract  for  her  paper,  and  I  shall 
see  that  you  have  a  copy.    The  same  issue  contains  memorials  from 


98 


Fortieth  Anniversary. 


the  faculty  and  the  Science  Club  with  reference  to  the  death  of  Miss 
Cummings,  and  thus  will  be  of  deep  interest  to  you. 

I  hope  that  the  many  engagements  belonging  to  your  work  and  to 
your  anniversary  have  not  cost  you  serious  fatigue.  Soon  the  spring 
will  come  and  then  your  Sunday  at  Wellesley,  to  which  we  look  forward 
with  great  enjoyment  in  and  gratitude  for  the  present.  I  shall  think) 
as  I  always  do,  when  I  first  heard  you  speak,  on  "  The  power  of  an 
endless  life,"  and  shall  recall  the  evening  in  the  old  chapel  when  you 
gave  us  an  address  on  Christ's  College  in  commemoration  of  Mr. 
Durant's  life  and  work. 

Will  you  not  remember  me  to  Mrs.  McKenzie,  whom  I  once  met  in 
Cambridge?  Her  gracious  reception  then  encourages  me  to  send  my 
best  wishes  now. 

Sincerely  yours, 

(Signed)    Mary  Caswell. 

San  Francisco,  Cal.,  January  11,  1907. 
Frank  Gaylord  Cook,  Cambridge,  Mass. 

My  dear  Sir,  —  The  invitation  to  the  exercises  in  celebration  of  the 
fortieth  anniversary  of  Dr.  McKenzie's  pastorate  is  received  and  I 
wish  it  were  possible  for  me  to  be  present.  I  thank  you  for  the  courtesy 
of  the  invitation.  I  have  for  many  years  had  the  same  feeling  of  ad- 
miration for  Dr.  McKenzie  that  is  held  by  so  many  people  in  the  East. 
One  of  the  most  pleasant  things  in  my  recent  trip  was  to  meet  him 
and  hear  him  speak  at  the  Boston  Congregational  Club.  The  little 
incident  in  the  speech  of  Gipsy  Smith  when  he  laid  his  hand  so  affec- 
tionately on  Dr.  McKenzie's  shoulder  is  one  that  I  can  never  forget. 
The  doctor  has  done  a  noble  work  there  many  years.  Please  give 
him  my  love  and  congratulations,  as  well  as  to  the  church. 

Cordially  yours, 

(Signed)    Geo.  C.  Adams. 

Harpoot,  Turkey,  March  6,  1907. 
Dear  Dr.  McKenzie,  —  Please  permit  a  distant  member  of  your 
church  at  this  late  date  to  extend  hearty  congratulations  on  the  com- 
pletion of  forty  years  of  service  with  the  Shepard  Memorial  Church. 
I  have  been  much  interested  in  the  accounts  I  have  seen  of  the  occasion 
and  only  wish  I  could  have  been  present  in  person.  The  next  best 
thing  was  to  have  my  daughter,  Winifred,  there.  Mr.  Browne,  who 
is  now  with  us,  also  had  an  account  of  the  occasion  from  his  wife. 


Letters. 


99 


There  are  larger  churches  than  the  Shepard  Memorial,  but  I  doubt 
if  there  are  many  that  are  having  a  more  extensive  influence.  Pray 
that  all  her  sons  and  daughters  may  be  true  to  the  ideals  which  they 
have  received  there. 

From  the  enclosed  report  you  will  see  that  one  feature  of  my  work 
seems  to  be  to  try  to  develop  out  of  our  orphanage  work  something 
like  a  Hampton  or  Tuskegee  Institute  for  this  land.  We  have  the 
nucleus,  and  must  now  see  if  it  will  be  helped  to  grow.  With  very 
warm  regards  and  with  the  hope  that  I  may  be  present  at  the  Jubilee 
of  your  connection  with  the  Shepard  Church,  believe  me, 

Yours  most  sincerely, 

(Signed)    Geo.  P.  Knapp. 

Lakehurst,  N.  J.,  January  14,  1907. 
My  dear  Dr.  McKenzie,  —  Accept  from  me  very  cordial  congratu- 
lations upon  your  attainment  of  the  fortieth  anniversary  of  your 
installation  as  pastor  of  the  Congregational  Church  in  Cambridge.  It 
would  have  been  to  my  personal  advantage  had  my  life  been  lived 
nearer  you  and  your  preaching.  I  remember  so  distinctly  a  discourse 
of  yours  to  which  I  once  listened  in  your  church,  that  I  am  sure  if  I 
had  been  within  reach  of  your  ministry,  I  should  have  been  a  stronger 
man.  I  think  I  referred  to  that  discourse  in  the  course  of  a  sermon,, 
more  or  less  fortunate  in  its  character,  which  I  delivered  in  the  Central 
Church  in  Boston. 

Yours  very  sincerely, 

(Signed)    C.  H.  Parkhurst. 

Boston,  January  16,  1907. 
My  dear  Mr.  Cook,  —  It  will  afford  me  much  pleasure  to  be  present 
at  the  exercises  in  honor  of  Dr.  McKenzie,  on  the  24th.  My  long  and 
intimate  association  with  him  as  a  member  of  the  committee  for  pub- 
lishing the  Proceedings  of  the  Historical  Society  has  been  among  the 
pleasantest  circumstances  of  my  life;  and  I  was  much  gratified,  in 
looking  up  the  record  a  few  days  ago,  to  find  that  it  was  on  my 
nomination  that  he  was  elected  a  member  of  the  society. 

Very  truly  yours, 

(Signed)    Chas.  C.  Smith. 

Frank  Gayi.ord  Cook,  Esq. 


100 


Fortieth  Anniversary. 


Boston,  January  24,  1907. 

My  dear  Dr.  McKenzie,  —  I  have  been  hoping  all  day  that  the  ex- 
treme cold  would  moderate  enough  to  make  it  prudent  for  me  to  go  to 
Cambridge  this  evening,  that  I  might  testify  in  person  my  regard  for 
you  and  congratulate  you  on  the  interesting  occasion  which  will  draw 
many  of  your  friends  together ;  but  it  does  not  seem  prudent  for  me 
to  try.  The  many  years  —  no  small  part  of  a  man's  lifetime  —  during 
which  you  and  Dr.  Young  and  I  have  been  associated  in  the  Publishing 
Committee  of  the  Historical  Society  have  been  among  the  pleasantest 
of  my  life,  and  I  am  always  glad  to  look  back  on  them.  It  was  with 
mingled  surprise  and  gratification  that  I  found  some  days  ago  that 
both  you  and  he  were  elected  into  the  society  on  my  nomination.  In 
the  Publishing  Committee  there  has  never  been  the  slightest  jar,  and 
your  part  of  the  work  has  always  been  faithfully  and  promptly  done, 
as  I  know  that  all  your  other  varied  work  has  been  done. 

With  my  warmest  congratulations  and  my  best  wishes  for  you  in 
the  years  to  come,  I  am, 

Always  sincerely  yours, 

(Signed)    Chas.  C.  Smith. 

Rev.  Dr.  McKenzie. 

Cambridge,  January  25,  1907. 
My  dear  Friend,  —  I  was  much  stirred  and  moved  by  many  mem- 
ories last  evening  at  your  church  and  should  like  to  send  you  one 
further  word  of  neighbor ly  greeting.  What  career  could  be  more 
honorable  and  rewarding  than  these  many  years  of  continuous,  gen- 
erous, and  wise  service!  You  have  shown  us  all  the  scope  of  the 
Christian  ministry  and  the  undiminished  part  which  it  holds  both  in 
the  work  and  the  affection  of  a  modern  world.  It  is  a  happy  memory 
to  me  that  I  have  had  the  privilege  of  sharing  with  you  some  of  these 
experiences  and  to  watch  the  large  effect  of  your  words  and  your  work. 
My  only  regret  last  evening  was  that  nothing  happened  to  be  said  of 
your  service  at  Hampton,  the  welcome  which  is  always  awaiting  your 
words  there,  and  the  unique  expression  of  affection  which  meets  you 
jimong  those  devoted  teachers.  It  is  one  of  the  sweetest  parts  of  our 
visits  there  to  see  this  appreciation  showered  upon  you  and  deserved 
by  you.  I  have  been  planning  all  this  winter  to  look  in  on  you  quietly 
in  your  study,  and,  as  Brandt  Storer  used  to  say,  "  hold  hands,"  but 
I  have  been  much  restricted  by  a  turn  of  rheumatism,  which  has  liter- 
ally tied  me  with  a  very  short  rope,  so  that  I  have  not  walked  as  far 


Letters. 


101 


as  your  house  for  months.  May  you  have  a  long  and  fruitful 
autumn  of  life,  full  of  the  autumn  fruits  of  admiration  and  affection, 
which  are  glowing  about  you  to-day  1 

Cordially  yours, 

No  answer!  (Signed)    Francis  G.  Peabody. 

Rev.  A.  McKenzie,  D.D.,  Cambridge. 

New  York,  January  13,  1907. 

My  dear  Dr.  McKenzie,  —  While  it  will  be  impossible  for  us  to  be 
personally  present  with  the  multitude  who  will  throng  your  church 
next  Sunday  and  the  Thursday  following,  we  are  most  appreciative 
of  the  cordial  invitation. 

We  may,  I  am  sure,  have  a  part  in  the  congratulations  and  thanks- 
givings of  these  occasions.  How  significant  they  are,  both  as  testi- 
mony to  the  past  and  as  assurance  for  the  time  to  come!  Let  me 
assure  you  of  the  admiration  with  which  I  look  upon  yourself  and  the 
fruitful  years  which  now  round  out  the  two  score,  and  of  my  gratitude 
to  Almighty  God  for  the  power  which  he  has  so  long  made  manifest 
in  you  and  your  ministry.  May  the  celebration  be  all  your  heart 
can  wish. 

Ever  cordially, 

(Signed)    Frank  Mason  North. 

Young  People's  Christian  Alliance 
of  the  Trinitarian-Congregational  Church. 

New  Bedford,  Mass.,  January  20,  1907. 

To  our  dear  Dr.  McKenzie,  —  The  child  of  the  Trinitarian  Church, 
long  gone  out  from  among  us,  doing  a  strong  man's  work  in  the  service 
of  Christ's  kingdom  on  earth,  we  are  glad  that  you  have  come  to  see 
this  anniversary  day. 

A  wise  New  England  philosopher  once  said :  "  We  do  not  count  a 
man's  years  till  he  has  nothing  else  to  count  " ;  so  we,  your  old-time 
friends,  make  no  reckoning  of  the  days  and  the  years  of  this  happy 
pastorate.  Its  value  to  the  people  and  its  satisfaction  to  yourself  can 
be  calculated  in  no  such  terms.  They  are  rather  in  the  friendships, 
the  affections,  the  inspirations,  and  the  memories  which  link  you  to 
the  people  and  the  people  to  you.  We  send  you  our  glad  greeting, 
and  rejoice  for  all  the  good  that  has  come  to  you,  and  for  all  the  good 


102 


Fortieth  Anniversary. 


you  have  done,  and  for  all  that  you  are  going  to  do.  May  the  good 
Lord  bless  you  now  and  always  is  the  prayer  of  your  friends  of  the 
New  Bedford  Trinitarian  Church. 

(Signed)    Jas.  C.  Briggs,  Clerk. 

New  York,  January  5,  1907. 
Frank  Gatlord  Cook,  Esq.,  Cambridge,  Mass.: 

Dear  Sir,  —  I  desire  to  acknowledge  the  receipt  of  the  invitation  to 
attend  the  public  exercises  upon  the  celebration  of  the  fortieth  anni- 
versary of  the  pastorate  of  the  Rev.  Alexander  McKenzie,  D.D.,  on 
the  evening  of  Thursday,  the  twenty-fourth  day  of  January. 

Grateful  for  the  opportunity  of  thus  expressing  my  affectionate 
regard  for  Dr.  McKenzie,  I  am, 

Very  truly  yours, 

(Signed)    Robert  C.  Ogden. 


COMMITTEES. 


Arthur  P.  Stone. 


PORTRAIT. 

Frank  Gaylord  Cook. 
Edward  S.  Chapin. 


Charles  F.  Stratton. 


ALBUM. 


George  S.  Chase. 


FINANCE. 


Charles  F.  Stratton. 
Erasmus  D.  Leavitt. 
Byron  T.  Thayer. 
George  F.  Kendall. 
George  E.  Saunders. 
Robert  J.  Mellidge. 


Mrs.  H.  N.  Tilton. 
Mrs.  W.  A.  Bancroft. 
Mrs.  W.  G.  Farlow. 
Mrs.  Ezra  F.  Taft. 
Mrs.  W.  B.  Durant. 
Mrs.  John  B.  Kempton. 


PUBLIC  EXERCISES. 

Frank  Gaylord  Cook.  Mrs.  George  F.  Moore. 

George  S.  Saunders.  Mrs.  H.  W.  Magoun. 

John  A.  Lansing.  Mrs.  F.  S.  Cutter. 

H.  G.  Fletcher.  Miss  A.  B.  Mackintire. 

Prof.  J.  H.  Ropes.  Miss  Cornelia  B.  Fiske. 

L.  B.  Grover.  Miss  Sarah  C.  Bent. 


George  S.  Chase. 
Charles  W.  Spencer. 
James  L.  Love. 
Dr.  Newton  S.  Bacon. 
Dr.  Marshall  W.  Bailey. 
H.  Porter  Smith. 


INVITATIONS. 

Mrs.  A.  J.  Wallace. 
Mrs.  M.  J.  Jones. 
Mrs.  E.  G.  Brandau. 
Miss  M.  K.  Horsford. 
Miss  Emma  G.  Alden. 
Miss  M.  Althea  Dorr. 

103 


% 


Gaylord  Bro». 
Makers 

Syracuse,  N  Y 

MT.  MID.  I|,  1908 


